Black Garden
by N1nj4 Grrrl
Summary: What's a girl to do when the line between intuition and an over-active imagination disappears? Rated for language and future adult situations. May re-write someday
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to Black Garden! I just finished fixing this story up and some of you know this and some of you don't. To those of you who have read this before, I hope you will approve of the changes I've made. To those who are reading for the first time, welcome and please enjoy my humble offering!**

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It began early that morning at an appalling six thirty. I woke suddenly from a deep sleep and my eyes drifted almost warily to my still dark window. I don't know what I thought I was going to see, but there was nothing there. Just snow and bare trees, the limbs of which were slightly bent in one direction from the strong winds that sometimes swept in off of Lake Superior. I sat up in bed and stared at the dark, frozen tree line for a while, as though waiting for something, anything, to jump out yelling, "Here I am!" Finally, when nothing materialized, I released my breath in a sigh and shook my head at my own foolishness.

I wasn't exactly paranoid delusional or anything, but my imagination was somewhat overdeveloped and it had a tendency to grab me by the scruff and yank me along for the ride. I'd had more adventures by now than anyone on Earth, and all inside my own head. When I dreamt, it was of worlds, places, creatures that had never existed. A hopeless romantic that was more comfortable living in seclusion than amongst others who would never understand.

And damned if it didn't pay well!

Of course my publishers tended to get fed up with my constant tendency to forget or ignore deadlines, but that was minor. They put up with me because I was good and they saw more profit indulging my eccentricities than not. And it wasn't like writing was my only gig, either. I found teaching to be quite enjoyable, though only as a substitute. I think anything more than that would drive me crazy.

I looked around my dark room, taking in the white walls, dark green carpet, artwork, and white pine furniture. Everything was painted in navy shadows, but remained otherwise the same as when I'd gone to sleep hours earlier. Glancing back out the window, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was really wrong and I stared hard at the distant tree line, but nothing moved that I could see. Giving a huff of irritation at myself, I tossed my covers aside and got out of bed. There was no way I'd be able to go back to sleep now, so might as well get a start on the day.

I live on several miles of "nowhere" in Michigan's U.P., and my ranch-style home overlooked Lake Superior. It was winter, very January, and the lake looked more like a barren waste than anything else. I loved it here, though. It was mine and though it wasn't always easy to make a good living up here, thanks to my books, I managed quite well enough. I craved solitude for the most part and up here, that's exactly what I found.

It was starting to snow when I locked up my home, entered the garage with my coffee in hand, and climbed into my 4x4. Starting up my car, I pulled out of my garage and took a look around at the tree line surrounding my home. I still had the feeling that something was off, but there was nothing except the frozen skeletons of winter trees and the deep snows typical for this part of the country. With a frown, I maneuvered my car through a Y-turn and headed down the long country drive toward the highway, thinking that perhaps I had been writing about vampires too much lately.

I knew my very active imagination has messed with me before, but I couldn't help but feel watched until I hit the highway, though I was fairly certain that I was just spooking myself. After all, the whole "there are eyes watching me from the trees" sensation has struck before and doubtless would again. A touch of fanciful paranoia brought on by a mind that spends day after day in the clouds. I decided, a mile down the road with AC/DC's Highway to Hell blaring from my speakers, that I didn't really mind too much. After all, when you live in the frozen north where nothing interesting happens, you have to make your own excitement. Right?

Riiiight.

I spent the day at the local high school overseeing an algebra class. I thought it was a spectacularly bad idea, but the regular teacher gave me an answer key for the days homework assignment and I managed to win their attention and good behavior with the bribe of candy and the promise of goofing off at the end if they could make it through the work of the day in a timely fashion. It ensured that they got a solid fifteen minutes at the end to waste as they saw fit (as long as they were quiet about it), and I saw at least one girl trying to finish her homework for the next class in that time.

It almost made me laugh. I remembered being that girl and it was hard to believe that it had only been eleven years since then. Crazy, that's what it was. Somethings never changed, it seemed.

I had stopped by the grocery store on my way home, thinking that chicken in the roaster, stuffing, and some baby reds with carrots sounded spectacular for dinner, having totally forgotten about my early morning flirt with insanity, but when I pulled onto the mile-long drive to my home in the gathering darkness, the sensation of being watched returned. It was strange because I couldn't see anyone and there weren't any animals that I could spot. Not even deer and the woods around my home were thick with them. There was only one thing (ok, maybe two things…) that it could be.

Alien vampires from hell!

Or my over-active imagination again.

I grinned with a chuckle, listening to King Nothing on my radio and considered calling my mom to tell her about that one. I could hear it now.

_"Hey, Ma. I'm being stalked."_

_ "Oh God. Who is it this time?"_

_ "It's not a 'who'. It's a 'what'."_

_ "Uh-huh. I'm listening."_

_ "Alien vampire from hell. And I'm pretty sure he's a biker, but I haven't confirmed it yet. I'm thinking about calling him Edward the Longfang… The Third!"_

_ "Oh God… Jess… It's a good thing you can make that imagination of yours pay."_

The clouds from the day's snow moved off and the full moon came out to play. The wizened, black limbs of nighttime trees reached with wooden claws to capture the silver orb in the sky though it always managed to slip their grasp. The light pierced the darkness and painted the world in silver-blue light and sooty shadows, but as my car left the trees another light caught my attention. I pulled into my garage, got out of my car, and poked my head out.

There was a body sprawled in my front yard, a dark shape against the snow and the phosphorescent green it was covered in. He twitched a bit, his head moving slightly, and I had no. Idea. What. He. Was. All I knew, judging from the body structure and musculature, was that this was indisputably a male. A very _big_ male. And it didn't look like he was wearing a costume, even with what appeared to be the insides of a glow stick covering him. But he looked hurt. And he looked cold, moving sluggishly, but as though he knew someone was there and couldn't summon the energy to do anything more than move his head. And I no longer felt those "eyes" watching. It was just me and Edward the Longfang and I had no idea what to do.

"Oh. My. God…"

His head jerked at the sound of my voice and I heard a strange rolling, clicking growl. I didn't care that it sounded weak and tired, I just cared that it didn't sound like anything that had ever originated on this planet. I was really hoping this was a prank and not some guy in a costume pretending to be hurt just so he could in turn hurt _me. _Pretty elaborate ruse though, I know, but a girl can't be too careful. He looked entirely too realistic, even for Hollywood, and besides that, how had he ended up in my front yard? In the middle of nowhere? In the snow? And why would he do that in the first place?

Steeling myself, I walked cautiously over to him, boots crunching in the snow, wading through the drifts of luminous, moon-lit silver, and watched him go very still. The strange appendages on his face widened, spreading out, and he growled again. I stared, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Those were _mandibles_! Fucking, God-damned _mandibles_! He was so _not_ in a costume and I had no clue what he was. Closer now, I could tell that the green stuff covering him was frozen and there was a lot of it on his face and abdomen, but his injuries were not limited to those two places. He'd obviously been through the grinder, Edward the Longfang had. And if the green stuff was frozen, then he'd been out here in the snow for quite some time. Looking at the snow around him there were the tracks of four different people, all coming from and going back to the trees, though somewhat filled in from the storm earlier. Good God! He'd been out in the storm and was still alive! What _was_ he? I stared at him a moment longer and realized; it hadn't been my imagination after all! I really _had_ been watched!

Well, wha'd'ya know?

Staring, I tried to decide what to do, but he was damned big at roughly 7'5" with broad shoulders, a deep, barrel chest, thick, muscular waist, and the most impressive abs I'd ever seen. He was completely covered in slabs of granite-hard, finely chiseled muscle that had to have _weighed_ the same as real granite did. There were black, wicked-looking claws on his hands and feet and though his hands looked like anyone elses (barring claws and strange skin), his feet only had four toes and a dew-claw. His blood, at least that's what it looked like, was green and glowing where it seeped freshly from his wounds, while his skin was green mottled with blackish blue. His face, stomach, and inner legs and arms, however, were all a lightly toasted cream color like aged parchment. His hair was the darkest black, well-oiled, and plaited in many neat-as-a-pin dreadlocks growing out from under a frilled ridge of bone along the top of his skull with thick silver beads, bones, and a few feathers and fangs as decoration.

His armor and equipment, like himself, had obviously seen better days though appeared as equally well-cared for as his hair in spite of whatever ordeal had caused him to be _here_. I had put off looking, somehow knowing the sight would be awful, but I finally let my gaze wander up past the mandibles and I covered my mouth with a hand. He had quite a few rather extensive injuries, but his face was the true horror as I knew it would be. It wasn't the large, powerful mandibles with tusks that would make a rhino jealous and it wasn't the large, scythe-like fangs behind the mandibles that horrified me. It was his eyes.

Someone had blinded him, slashing deliberately across his face. That thick green blood had flowed down the sides of his head to pool on either side, melting the snow before freezing. They had wounded him, weakened him, and left him for dead.

In front of my house.

In the snow.

It was so evil it chilled me more than the snow or the wind off the lake ever could. What had he done to deserve such a fate? To deserve being marooned in such an inhospitable place right next to the home of a creature so different from him? It was a terrible thing; a cruel, truly _evil_ thing to do to someone. Injured and blind in the cold, unable to seek help, warmth or shelter and dependent upon the mercy of whomever found him… All the more it made me want to help him, if for no other reason than to spite whomever had done this. I left my bag and groceries there in the snow, promising myself I'd come back for them later.

"C'mon, big guy. Let's get you inside where it's warm."

A growl of warning was his only response as I bent to help him stand, though he slowly, weakly managed put his left arm over my shoulders himself without any prompting. Casting a glance at the doorway some twenty feet away while trying to shoulder his immense weight, I suspected that it was going to be a long walk. He was extremely tall and _God_ was this guy heavy! He moved slowly, obviously in a great deal of pain, both from his injuries and the cold, and was leaning on me more and more with every clumsy step we took.

I grit my teeth and tried shifting my hold while he sagged, "C'mon, big guy. I know you're cold and your hurt and I promise you can rest soon in a warm bed and a heating blanket next to a roaring fire, safe and warm, but you're damned heavy. If you go down, I won't be able to get you back up and to safety. There's just a few more steps to the door and a little farther after that to a bed, so call up whatever you have left and I'll do the rest, but help a poor girl out here, ok?"

He gave a grim rumble and tensed, pulling his weight off of me with an effort that left him trembling. His breathing was coming in the gasping wheezes of someone on their last reserve and I felt genuinely bad for him. Opening the door, I cautioned him about the doorway's dimensions and he gave a rumble that even to me sounded obscene. Something involving "pauk", "ooman", and "lou-dte kalei". The only thing I understood was "ooman" and I gave my own growl.

"Hey, I'm trying to help you out, here. A little less antagonism and a little more gratitude, hmm? Then again, if you think you can make it on your own, you're welcome to go back to your snow bank."

He was quiet as I led him to the spare room with the extra-long queen-sized bed. It had a gas fireplace and was cozy enough (not that he'd see it) and I pulled the blankets back, then let him ease down to sit on the edge. He hissed in pain, head bowed, then sighed in relief, shoulders slumped. Just as I realized I'd have to somehow get him out of his gear, his shaky hands began removing his armor and tech before handing each piece to me to set somewhere safe and out of the way.

"So, I can either clean and bandage your wounds while you're still awake or let you pass out first, it's up to you."

He tugged weakly at the fish netting that he wore, then felt near some of his injuries and discovered the gaping holes where the wires had snapped. With a grumbling sigh, he tore the rest into pieces and handed me the scraps. All that remained were his metal sandal-boots and a loincloth that would probably need to be laundered at some point because it had some of his glow-stick blood on it.

"O-kaaaay… What am I doing with this? Save it? Throw it away? Use it as decoration? Go fishing with it? What?"

He angled his ravaged face toward me and huffed before reaching around him and, finding the nearest pillow, swung his feet up with a groan of pain. He lay back then and his breath eased out of him slowly. Clearly, he didn't much give a damn one way or the other.

Great.

Grumbling, I turned on the fire place, set the scraps of wire fish net down, and left to pull my belongings from the snow, before gathering up some rags, towels, and first aid supplies. This was going to be a long evening.

Maybe I'd just make a frozen pizza instead…

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**I own nothing but this little story of mine. ^.^  
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**Happy Reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

"I hate my life…" I said, staring outside my door at the piles of skulls, weapons, bags of unidentifiable what-not, armor, and various other odds and ends littering my front yard.

I had gone to retrieve my keys (forgotten in the door) a couple of hours after I'd finished patching up my happy house guest and _this_ is what greeted me upon opening the door. It wasn't enough that I had some alien dude, this interstellar bad-ass if his gear was any indication, who seemed to think that room and board was his due; no, now I had what I could only believe was his _stuff_ in my front yard! And _he_ certainly was in no condition to take care of it. No. _I_ have to and Heaven help me if I accidentally drop or damage something. He looked like the type who would undoubtedly raise holy hell over something like that and I wasn't entirely certain he wouldn't instinctively know where I was in order to tear my face off using those claws of his.

Damn it.

I looked up at the sky and whimpered pathetically. I was only twenty seven. I had so much to live for, "Haven't I always tried to keep your Commandments… when I remember?"

Then again, maybe I shouldn't look at the sky. It might bring more of these guys down on my head and there were already four wandering the woods beside the one I had sleeping in my guest room. If the other four needed somewhere to stay, I had a neighbor a mile down the beach who lived in a bloody mansion. They could stay with _him_.

I looked back toward my guest room and glared, injecting as much venom in my blue-green eyes as possible, "Damn you, Edward. You'd better give me a good explanation for this when you wake up. In English. Longfang indeed. That's the last time I make jokes like that in my head. Look how it turns out. Maybe Mom was right. Maybe I _do_ spend too much time with just my cats for company. Then again, I guess that's not really an issue anymore, is it, Edward?"

Looking back to my yard, disregarding the cold air wafting in, I sighed. I did _not_ want to go out there in the dark with his four pals running around. It probably wouldn't be any safer in the daylight, though. I almost hoped this was some kind of frat prank, but if it was, his people played damned dirty.

"_Hey, let's get Ed hammered and leave him injured at some human's house! Wouldn't that be hysterical?"_

"_Great idea! We could dump his shit there too!"_

"_Even better; we'll wait 'til the human takes him inside, then when they least suspect, we'll drop the stuff and hide."_

"_Watch what happens from the trees?"_

"_You know it!"_

"_Awesome!"_

Somehow I could see that too, though I was fairly certain that they wouldn't sound like the Ninja Turtles. And in no way did I want any part of their messed up sense of humor. I had a gun… I could take that with me. But Edward had had a hell of a lot more than a gun and look what happened to _him_. Plus, I'd need both hands to carry a lot of that stuff.

So, no gun.

I threw my snow boots on, then bundled up in a coat that made me look like the Michelin Man's wife and headed out into the cold to bring in the most morbid collection I'd ever seen. Made me almost wonder if I was harboring a Satanist or something. Not that I really cared (since apparently I was willing to help anyone as long as they were injured and abandoned in my front yard…), but I didn't want my cats to join the large skull to my left; the one with the big, wide crest and no eye-sockets.

"See what happens when you pick on people with no eyes, Edward?"

I grumbled, hauling things in bit by bit and took them down to the basement where I set them carefully on the carpet. I sighed. This was not what I'd had in mind when I'd had this basement finished. The male half of my two cats, Pouncer, crouched behind a Lay-Z-Boy and glared balefully at me with his yellow eyes as though I had betrayed him. I glared back.

"Oh right. 'Cause this was _all_ my idea, right? _Ugh_, boys…"

I was so gonna treat myself to hot chocolate with Kahlua after this.

Loki, the female, was only interested in the nifty new smells. I was glad _some_one was willing to not cause me problems and decided that she'd get a treat when I got mine. Pouncer would have to deal and Edward… Well, I was hoping he'd stay passed out.

An hour later I'd finished hauling in Edward's belongings (at least they had damned well better be his), showered, and sat in the living room with my spiked hot chocolate, a book, and a sigh. The fireplace was on and the only other light came from the lamp on the coffee table at my left. I sat on the couch, but had my feet up and was ignoring my mothers voice in my head: _"Get your feet off the couch, young lady! If you had to pay for it, you'd understand!"_

Nope. Sorry, Ma.

I took a long pull from my favorite mug; _"What The Hell Is So Good About It?"_ done in white script on a black background. It had been a gift from my older sister who said she was tired of being snarled at any time she said "good morning". This way, I wouldn't have to force myself to speak at the ungodly hour of eight a.m and she could pretend to ignore the rude answer. It was the best present she'd ever given me.

Smiling and now in a much better mood thanks to alcohol and fond memories, I settled back and began reading. After about fifteen minutes, I began hearing sounds coming from Edward's room. I sighed. What the hell was he doing awake? Grumbling, I got up, marking my place in The Historian (fantastic read), and went to check on my newest pal.

I knocked lightly on the door, letting him know I was there because after all those skulls there was _no way_ I was gonna sneak up on him, then slowly opened the door and peaked in. He was in the middle of trying to sit up, but turned his now heavily bandaged face toward me, pausing in his efforts.

"What are you doing?" I asked, walking over to him, "You're gonna hurt yourself and you're already pretty banged up."

"Ooman…" he rumbled and it sounded derogatory. I sniffed in disdain which made him growl.

"Yeah, what of it?"

He growled a bit, clicking deep in his throat, but was otherwise silent. I frowned.

"Look, I want to help, but you're gonna have to communicate in a way I understand. I'm not a damned mind-reader."

He huffed and seemed to grumble, then said, "…Cold."

I took a deep breath. Progress. It was damned difficult to catch what he was saying amidst the growling, but I could live with it, "Sure. Let me turn up the temp on the blanket, then I'll turn up the fire, ok?"

I reached over him for the cord to the electric blanket and felt him still and tense. Then he started growling, "Ooman… Do not touch-"

"Oh shut up, Edward the Longfang. I'm trying to help you. Now settle down."

I had just clicked the blanket to "high" when his clawed hand was suddenly wrapped around my throat. He snarled, "_Not_... Edward the Longfang. _Ooman_; never call me this! Live only because of honor. Do not anger. Understand _ooman_?"

Ohhhh, one too many. I'd had enough. Reaching up, I grabbed his mandibles and yanked his head closer with my own snarl. It seemed to surprise him because his grip on my throat eased, "Now you listen to me and you listen good; I've had enough of weird shit for one day. I find you dying in my front yard. I take you in. I clean you up. I bandage your wounds. I bring in all of your skulls and things that your four little fun pals left for me to take care of. My basement is full of _your things_. And now you _threaten me_? How dare you? You have a gratitude problem. And for that matter, stop calling me God-damned 'ooman', ok? My name is Jess. I'll stop calling you Edward if you give me your name. Otherwise, Edward it is. _Understand alien_?"

He growled but let me go. I let his mandibles go and he jerked his head back and away, his dreadlocks swinging. Sightless he may have been, but not helpless. He considered me for a good minute before rumbling, "Lar'ja-thwei."

"Huh?"

Nice, Jess. Real classy.

He huffed, tossing his head as if he were rolling his eyes, "Lar'ja-thwei. My name."

"Oh… Yeah, there's no way I'm gonna say all of that. Could I just call you Lar'ja?"

"Edward the Longfang…" he mocked.

"Oh fine-"

"Lar'ja… acceptable." he huffed again, "I guess."

"So, uh… What does your name mean?"

"Dark blood."

I smirked, shaking my head, "That's false advertising, you know."

"What?" his head tilted, bird-like.

"There's nothing dark about your blood, dude. It totally glows."

He did a strange head toss that seemed to equate rolling his eyes, "Oomans..."

"_Hu_mans." I corrected. His upper mandibles twitched.

"What I said."

Great. A comedian.

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**I own nothing. ^.^  
**

**Happy Reading!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

The guest room felt like a sauna. I'd brought in a small space heater and Lar'ja finally seemed comfortable, but I was cooking. Speaking of which...

"Are you hungry? What kind of things do you eat?"

"Not hungry. Eat only every other day."

Again with that weird twitch of his upper mandibles. Whatever. He was calmly letting me check his bandages and that was all that really mattered. There was a really nasty, deep gash on his left hip that was still seeping blood and I couldn't help but grin. He looked like a broken glow stick. I'd have to tell Mom about this one. She won't believe me, but it'd be funny anyway.

"_Ma, I met Edward! I think he might be a Raver!"_

_"Why?"_

_"Because his blood glows in the dark!"_

"_Oh, Jess…"_

I heard a rumbling coming from deep in his chest and I paused, "What's that noise?"

"Warm hands…"

I blinked. Huh?

"Um, ok… Well… As long as you're happy, I guess."

One side of his mandibles pulled and I suddenly realized what I was looking at. He was smirking! I stilled. Smirk. Warm hands. Oh God. I slowly looked down at my hands and noticed that my left hand was straying a little too close to where it shouldn't.

Oh my God!

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry!"

I jerked back, holding my hands close to me, feeling just about as embarrassed as I possibly could. It didn't help when he started laughing, sounding like the world's biggest cricket on steroids. His mandibles were pulled wide in a slightly lopsided grin.

Ha ha, let's all laugh at the stupid human. I rolled my eyes.

"Not complaining." he said with a decidedly lecherous chuckle.

Ewwwww. I felt dirty.

But it _was_ sorta funny... I guess.

"Hey," I said defensively, "I'm the one who put you back together. Be nice."

Again that grin and he chuckled, "Once healed… Yes. Very nice."

"_That_ is _**so** not what I meant_." I forced out from between teeth that were grinding, "What is with you, anyway? You were all surly before and now you're making jokes laced with innuendo."

"Not every ooman brave enough to touch a Hunter's mandibles." he snorted and I wondered how since he didn't have a nose, "Fewer still that would grab and pull."

"Does that mean I've earned your respect, then?" I asked, skeptical.

Again he snorted, "Proved interesting. Act with honor, but unafraid. Not Yautja and not prey." his mandibles pulled in another smirk, "Will treat as friend, instead."

"You make dirty comments to your friends?" I demanded and he chuckled.

"Meat."

Huh?

"Huh?"

He smirked, clicking in his throat, "What I eat. Meat. Raw. Fruit. Vegetables. All uncooked."

... "That was like _five_ minutes ago, damn it!"

He laughed again and I sat there and scowled at him, knowing he couldn't see it, but it made me feel better anyway. He reached out his left hand toward me and when I didn't do anything, he started wiggling his fingers. Sighing, I gave him my right hand and he tugged me closer only to pat me on my head with his other hand.

"Good ooman."

I thought about getting angry. Really I did. But I had the feeling that that was what he was hoping for. He'd just lay there all broken and laughing while I wore the egg. So I took my hand back, patted his arm (huge bicep…), and sighed, "Thanks, Edward."

* * *

My happy house guest woke again by noon the next day. In that time, I'd gone to the store and came back with his foods of preference. He had indicated that beef and pork were his favorite and if I tried to feed him fish, there would be a small war that would end badly for me. I was _so very glad_ that he was _so_ easy-going and _accommodating_... The big, green jerk.

I'd also called my mom, but had been forced to talk to my sister, Savanna, instead.

So I had told _her_ about Edward.

Then she hung up on me.

So I had called again, grinning when she answered with a less than friendly hello and I had been forced to remind her that we share the same parents.

To which she answered by hanging up on me again.

I love my family.

There was a hiss and an angry yowl from down the hallway followed closely by a roar of anger. I had just enough time to dodge the gray streak that darted down to the basement when Lar'ja fumbled to his bedrooms doorway, growling, mandibles flared impressively.

"Lar'ja?" I asked, hanging back just in case, "You ok, dude?"

"_Beast_. Must kill it."

I huffed, "You're not gonna kill Pouncer. Now get back to bed."

"Matter of honor. _Must_ kill the beast."

"It's a matter of honor to kill my cat?" I asked, skeptical.

He was silent a moment, his feet shuffling slightly where he stood. Clicking a bit in his throat, his head tilted before giving me a firm nod, "Yes."

"Why?"

"Came to attack while I sleep. Beast has no honor."

"Dear God, Lar'ja. He's a _cat_. He's been the only male in a house of females for several years and suddenly a big, scary male shows up and steals all the attention. He was probably just trying to figure you out."

Lar'ja went still, then smirked, "Think that I am big and scary?"

"Oh! _Terrifyingly_ scary!" I said, rolling my eyes. He didn't hear the sarcasm though. Standing taller, smirking with a pleased roll of clicks in his throat, he preened. I rolled my eyes again. _Boys_, "Now get back to bed. Is there anything you need? All of your things are downstairs. I can go through some of it to find whatever you want. As long as you can describe it, of course."

"I can-"

"No, you cannot. You're still injured, you've been here less than a day, and I'll not have it said that I don't take care of those in my home who need my help. And you do still need my help, terrifying force to be reckoned with though you are."

He seemed to regard me for a moment before sighing and going back to bed. Sitting on the edge, he gave a small tug on his loincloth, "Please. Cannot wear anymore. Need new."

"Sure. If they aren't down there, I'll go shopping and get you some things, ok?"

He nodded, the feathers and fangs decorating his dreads swinging, "Your… cat… I will let live."

"Thanks."

* * *

Lar'ja's clothing, if you could call a loincloth "clothing", had been destroyed. For what reason, I had no idea. Just an extra helping of spite, I guess, but that was fine. I could do spite. I'd make sure that lecherous alien lived _forever_ just to spite those bastards who decided to drop him off in my front yard. Then we'd see who had the last laugh!

Lar'ja, probably…

Anyway, long story short, I had promised the man a change of clothes and reneging wasn't an option. I was driving home with not only some human clothing like jeans, boxers, shirts, etc, that Lar'ja had surprisingly agreed to wear, though with a great deal of arguing, roaring, and rationalizing (though the last was mostly on my part), but also yard upon yard of silk, Egyptian cotton, and linen to make new loincloths (or is it loin_clothes_?).

Though he had asked for fabric so that he could replace what he'd lost, he had not specified his preferred _type_ of fabric. But, c'mon now. The man had just lost his _eyes_ and even though he was a pain in the neck, I felt bad for him. Also, he didn't really seem like that bad of a guy, though I had no idea how long his strange good humor would last. Besides, who doesn't like silk, ya know?

I'd been forced to take his measurements which had been a source of great amusement for him at my expense, then drive an hour to the nearest Big & Tall store. The saleswoman (and I think she was just there to check out the guys…) who helped me find the right things and then take my money at the register, had given me a knowing smirk. I left, blushing, thinking that she and Lar'ja had much in common, but I guess I couldn't blame her. I mean, how many women would buy _silk_ boxers for a guy they hardly knew?

Don't answer that.

To say that I was astonished by the mess when I walked in the door upon my arrival at home would have been putting it gently. Furniture was knocked over, pillows thrown everywhere, lamps lay on their sides and in the middle of the room, holding Pouncer by the scruff of his neck while simultaneously managing to look sheepish, was Lar'ja.

"Jess-ooman… Was not going to end him…"

"What _were_ you going to do?"

"Only practice." He shuffled his feet, claws rasping against the carpet and I was suddenly glad I didn't have wood floors.

I noticed Loki hiding under the overturned recliner, looking spooked.

"Poor Loki looks about ready to have a heart attack."

He perked up with a bit of a smile, "Like the small female. Would not hurt. The male is not so friendly. Disrespectful. Need a lesson. I am hunter. I practice without my eyes on this one."

He gave the cat a shake and Pouncer growled, eying him with the deepest loathing.

"How about you leave him alone no matter what and go back to bed while I put this room back into order, hmm?"

"You are angry…"

"You bet. Put the damn cat down, Lar'ja."

He shuffled again, then huffed and literally dropped Pouncer who ran down to the basement. A series of low, grumbling clicks echoed low in his throat, "Do not wish to go back to bed. Am bored."

I looked around and frowned. True, an injured person couldn't make this much of a mess, but I also wanted him out of the way while I cleaned up. Sighing, I got out of my coat, "Fine, but I want to check your bandages first and you'll need to stay out of here long enough for me to clean this mess up. How the hell did you knock the couch over, anyway? It was right up against the wall."

"Cat ran under… So I flipped it." He looked sheepish again.

I stared at him, counting to ten.

Then I counted to twenty and gave up.

"You were _dying_ yesterday!" I threw my hands up in exasperation.

"Yautja. Not ooman. Yautja heal faster. Was supposed to die from cold or ooman, not injuries."

"Wait. What? You mean you know why you were left here?" That reminded me that I had been going to ask him about that.

He gave a nod and a smirk, though he didn't seem happy at all, "I know. Yautja competitive. And I… I am the best."

* * *

I made him wait in his room while I straitened up, but he refused to go until he had his new clothing. He'd given me something very interesting to think about. Whether he was actually "the best" or not was moot. Jealousy, _rivalry_, as a motive. Weaken someone, then let the elements or someone else do your dirty work for you and you get to have your cake and eat it, too. And here I thought it was a rather nasty case of "boys will be boys". A sadistic, morbid sense of humor. Then again, maybe it still was.

I had just turned the couch back over using my foot as a brace behind one of the legs and a strained "Uhoooooaghf" of effort when Lar'ja shuffled back in. He'd taken all of the bandages off, even though he wasn't fully healed, except for the one covering his eyes. He wore nothing but the black, silk boxers I had gotten him, though I had intended him to wear them _under_ his new clothing. I had not expected to ever really see them again, least of all _on _him, but there he stood. Hard body, sculpted muscles, and black silk. It totally didn't even matter that he was a green-skinned alien. I slowly realized that he had been talking to me, or trying to, and was waiting for a response. However, my brain was still not really functioning, soooo…

"Huh?"

His grin was slow and he walked over to me unerringly, reached one clawed finger out, and pushed my jaw back up.

"Much better." He said with a nod, then held his arms out slightly and turned so I could see everything, flicking his dreadlocks over his shoulder with a jerk of his head. It was a very human gesture and I wondered where he'd picked it up from, "Well? Am I fine?"

His tone was joking, but I was too busy staring to really notice, so I answered.

"Uh-huh. Good. You… Yeah. You look good."

I was drooling. How embarrassing! C'mon, Jess, snap out of it! He's not even your _species_! It was so much easier when he was angry. _Why _was he suddenly all… flirtatious? He was supposed to be an intergalactic bad-ass! Hell, he'd had me by the throat only half a day ago! I had to say something intelligent or I'd lose all respect for myself.

"How did you know-"

"Where you were?" he gave a negligent wave of his hand, as though not giving a damn, "Know where everything is. Mother trained me when I was youngling. Spent two years blindfolded. Good training. Useful lesson. Came in handy. Am the best for good reason."

"Oh… Well, ok then. How do you know English? And how did you get here? On Earth, I mean. And how did your four pals get the drop on you if you're 'the best'?"

He grinned and it was derogatory, "Not first time here, Jess-ooman. How else to get here but by ship? Learn many things on Earth. Hunted here often. Better hunter than pack mates. Killed three before I was taken down. They are Bad Bloods. They stole my honor and threw their own away. But I will get honor _back_."

"And what about the four that dropped you off here?"

"Them? Oh, they will die."

His grin was 100% pure evil.

I stared at him a moment and he tilted his head, face angled down at me, "I just want you to know that if I ever wake up in the middle of the night with you hovering over me, I will do something violent."

He laughed and it wasn't reassuring, "No worries, Jess-ooman. You are safe. Owe you much. Owe you my life. Will make good. Promise."

It still wasn't very comforting, but I'd take it.

He touched the hem of his boxers and gave a trill of interest, "What is this?"

"Silk," I said, shoving the couch cushions back on.

"Hmm, silk. I approve."

Then the son-of-a-gun laid down on the couch while I was trying to move it back into place, one leg curled up and resting against the back while the other foot was set on the floor. The couch stopped moving with his immense weight on it and I growled my irritation. Picking up one of the pillows, I threw it at him as hard as I could and stalked out of the room with his laughter following me.

* * *

**I own nothing. ^.^  
**

**Happy Reading!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

I blinked, fingers twitching experimentally, "Lar'ja?"

"Yes, Jess-ooman?"

"Why the hell am I upside down?"

He grinned at me, "Kind ooman. Offering help. I practice my hunting on you. Need to regain abilities now that I am blind."

"Yes," I said, my ears starting to ring, "But _why_ am I dangling from a _tree_?"

"No worries, Jess-ooman. Not hurt. Will cut you down. Soon." his evil grin widened and I scowled at him.

It had been nearly two months since I found him in my front yard and in that time he had healed as much as he ever would. The bandages on his eyes had come off and though he technically still _had_ his eyes, both the pupils and irises of his eyes were completely covered by a thick, white, filmy layer. He would never see again. He'd taken the news stoically, though hid himself in the basement for two days, leaving Pouncer somewhat confused at the role-reversal.

When I finally went down to check on him, he had been touching his trophies that we had spent three days sorting through and mounting. Each piece had come with a story and I had listened carefully, noting his need to tell someone, even a human, of his past deeds of honor, skill, and bravery.

He had turned to face me, the expression on his face about as tragic as could be, and asked, "Jess-ooman. Tell. What good is a hunter with no eyes?"

I realized something I hadn't before in that moment. He had seemed ok prior to the revelation because a part of him had held on to the hope that he would see again. He had teased, "flirted", and caused trouble as a way to keep himself positive. As though he would be damned to give his former hunting buddies any more of a victory than they already had. After the reveal though, it was as though something in him had died and I had really hated seeing it.

So I had told him that he was still a hunter, eyes or no, and to stop being a pansy about it. After all, he'd learned where everything in my house was located within a week of his arrival (which had been incredibly embarrassing at times), and catching Pouncer was a matter of mere moments, if that. _He_ was the one who had said he was the best and had trained blindfolded. And if _humans _could carry on perfectly normal lives while blind, why couldn't _he_? Really, what was the problem? And if it was a matter of getting old skills back, well, of course I'd help. Might be interesting to watch.

I hadn't expected a seat quite so close to the action, though.

"C'mon, Lar'jaaaaa. The blood is rushing to my head and I'm starting to see double. Lemme the fuck goooo!"

Yes, I was whining. No, I didn't care as long as he let me down.

He sighed, but continued to grin and jumped up to catch the heavy branch I was tied to. He was crouching on it in one fluid movement and half a moment later, I found myself being gently lowered to the still-cold ground. It was March, but this far north, that didn't mean much. Still, I was on the ground and not dangling from the tree like an apple which was a vast improvement. Even with my hands tied behind my back and my ankles tied together I was much happier.

"Yay! Thank you, Lar'ja! I'll love you forever, I promise!"

He chuckled, jumped down from the branch and began untying my ankles, "Ooman females are easier to beguile than Yautja."

"Ha. Ha. Funny. I totally didn't mean it like that, dude."

He huffed, "Why 'dude'? I never understand…"

"It's a friendly generic. Besides, you still insist on calling me 'ooman' and calling you Edward ended up with me dangling in a tree."

He chuckled and it wasn't exactly a friendly sound, but he obviously felt he'd made his point because he untied my wrists, "Not make mistake again."

"Mistake or no, I can tell you're already planning on finding some excuse to do that again. You jerk."

He laughed, "Obvious? Besides, you say you love me forever! _Love_, Jess-ooman! _Forever_!"

Giving my shoulder a not so gentle shake, he stood and laughed at me, letting me find my own way to my feet, "_Fine_ then. If you're gonna be that way about it. I take it back! No love for Lar'ja!"

"Ohhh! And after I wear silk for you! Cold, Jess-ooman."

I rolled my eyes, grinning while he faked some inner pain. Where the hell did he find these ridiculous gestures that totally sucked even on _humans_? And the worst part was that on _him_, they were actually endearing. And he _knew_ it! The alien bastard...

"Ha ha. I have laughed. No, you wear silk for _you_, Lar'ja."

He trilled in amusement while we walked back to the house. The sun was out, but the wind off the lake was cold. It turned out that he'd had a spare shift suit (fish net) that not only could make him invisible (I'd nearly had a heart attack the first time he'd sneaked up on me like that), but could also produce heat. So though I was now thoroughly cold, he was warm wearing his tech underneath jeans, a white tee and a green, black, and gray flannel shirt (I almost bought him the red, but thought it'd make him look too Christmasy with his green skin). The flannels sleeves were rolled up to make room for his wrist console that he used to control the temperature output with among other things and I was jealous.

Though I wasn't about to let _him_ know that. In point of fact, I was determined not to let him know I was cold, or that my wrists now hurt or _anything_ that would make me seem too weak. Not because I bought into his way of thinking or anything. I just didn't like getting laughed at and apparently I already gave him plenty of ammunition to work with.

"Silk is nice. Other Yautja would be jealous. Pleases me much." He walked up the porch steps, then opened the door for me.

I hesitated, suspicious. Since when did he start opening doors for me? The last time he'd opened the door first, he'd rushed in, closed it, and threw the dead bolt. I'd been forced to trudge through the snow to find an unlocked window that I could crawl through, only to find the door to _that_ room barricaded from the other side. With the couch. It had taken an hour of shoving to make a space big enough to squeeze through. Then I discovered that the alien bastard had been _laying_ on it with Loki curled up on his chest. Both were fast asleep.

He grinned and tossed his dreads over his shoulder, obviously enjoying my suspicion. I scowled, "What are you up to?"

"Delicate Jess-ooman. Sore wrists. All my fault. I help. No worries."

"Tsk. You're a condescending bastard sometimes, Lar'ja." I grumbled, walking inside.

He laughed like I knew he would. Better than being roared at though, I guess.

The phone in the kitchen was ringing and I had to catch it at a run. I nearly slipped and had to pinwheel my arms to keep my balance and I was thrilled that Lar'ja couldn't actually see what, by the grin on his face, he could obviously _hear_. I knew he'd tease me about it later, but he'd told me that his people were secretive and didn't want other races to know they existed (something about ruining the hunt for others…), so he was completely silent when he walked past me without even the usual clicking of claws on the linoleum.

"Hello hello?" I asked, catching my breath.

"_Jessie Elizabeth Michells, what have I told you about running? Who's gonna help you if you fall and crack your head open, huh?_"

"Ah no. Sorry, Ma. Totally forgot. You are, as usual, absolutely right. So what's up?"

"_Your mother needs an excuse to call? Really, now, Jess. I was in labor for twenty four hours. Don't you think I deserve to- What's that sound?"_

I'd been mouthing along, "What sound, Mom?"

"_Huh, it stopped. Anyway, how are you, Sweetie? Do you have a boyfriend, yet? Time's wasting, you know. If you don't catch one now, they'll all be gone."_

"Not really interested right now, Mom… I have a lot on my plate, so to speak."

She started to cry, _"My baby's going to die all alone and I won't have any grandkids!"_

I cringed, hating it when she pulled this, "You do have another daughter, Ma. Why do _I_ have to be the one to give you grandkids? Why can't you guilt _her_ into getting knocked up?"

Lar'ja was doubled over, shoulders shaking. He seemed to be having a hard time keeping his mirth quiet because every now and then he'd chirp. My mother didn't hear it, though (selective hearing strikes in reverse) thankfully. I did hear her gasp though, "_Jessie!"_

"Mom, I'm twenty seven, not twelve…"

"_That's no reason to be crude."_

"Are you dodging my question, Mom?"

"_What your sister does is none of your business, young lady."_

Well that hardly seemed fair, "So what, she's a dyke now? Is that it? Is that what this is about? 'Cause it's still no reason not to bother her about kids…"

Lar'ja quickly excused himself to the basement where the sound of his cricket laugh, which was louder than usual and sounding almost lion-ish, was muffled. My mother huffed in exasperation, "_Your sister isn't gay, and even if she was, you still shouldn't say it like that."_

I sighed. These conversations are a lot more entertaining when I'm in control of them. As it was, this sucked, "All right. Well, look Ma, I gotta get going. I have a deadline coming up and all…"

"_Fine, fine. But remember what I said. Love you, Sweetie."_

"Love you too, Ma. Bye."

I hung up just in time to see Lar'ja lean up against the wall with a grin that damned near ripped his mandibles from his face. I sighed, "I'm willing to pay handsomely for your silence."

He shook his head, a slow, precise rolling motion, "Is too funny. Can't keep from using. _My baby_."

Damn it all.

* * *

I spent the next three hours hiding from Lar'ja in my office, the door closed and locked and my headphones on so I wouldn't have to hear him chortle at me through the door. It was just me, my music, and my computer. The way I believed God intended it.

No matter what my mother said to the contrary.

Soundgarden kept me going while I typed and I had it set loudly enough that I never heard the lock slowly slide back, or the door open bit by bit in spite of the squeaky hinge.I _did_, however, hear the roar and feel his heavy, clawed hands come down hard on my shoulders. I also heard my own scream and felt my heart stutter in my chest. Shaking with reaction and feeling sweat bead on my forehead, I turned, gasping, in time to see the invisibility pull back. Lar'ja disconnected the hoses from his mask (the mask he didn't really need thanks to some implant in his airways) and pulled the device from his face just so that he could grin at me.

It pissed me off.

I liked to think I was pretty damned easygoing about this whole thing. I have been nice. I have been accommodating. I buy his favorite foods, buy him expensive clothing, pine shelves for his trophies, gave up my basement, my guest room, and really only ask that he not kill my cats. I get hung upside down, poked at, teased, taunted, locked out of my own home, and now I can't have a few quiet hours to myself?

I was shaking I was so angry.

He seemed to realize that something was wrong because his grin faded, "Jess-ooman?"

"Get. Out. Lar'ja-thwei."

He took a step back at my cold tone, then shuffled his feet, any remaining sign of humor gone from his face, "Jess-ooman… I-"

"I don't care, Lar'ja! I locked the door for a reason. I wanted just a few hours where someone wasn't making demands or using me as the punch line to their every joke!"

He silently, sightlessly regarded me for a moment before lowering his head with a brief nod and walking out, pulling the door closed behind him with a quiet "click" of the latch. I couldn't explain why I went from "I'm going to tear your face off" to "damn, I'm a bitch, aren't I?" so quickly, but something about him walking away made him look completely, utterly alone and I could have kicked myself. I hadn't been fair to him at all, either.

Sure, he liked to play pranks and tease, but nothing was ever damaged, I was never hurt, and the cats were still alive. And it wasn't like _I_ never made a joke at his expense. Really, the only reason I was angry was because I'd been startled and it had made me defensive. So not a good enough reason.

I was up and out of my chair, then out of my office and searching for Lar'ja before finishing that thought. I looked everywhere, but he wasn't in the house at all. So I threw on my coat and headed out into the gathering evening shadows. I finally found him on the beach by the water. I knew he heard me, but he didn't acknowledge my presence save for a tension in his armored shoulders. Otherwise, his face remained forward as though he were looking at the water.

"I'm a bitch and I'm sorry, Lar'ja."

It was obviously not what he expected me to say because he turned to me with his brow ridge raised. He tilted his head with a roll of clicks in his throat, but otherwise, he said nothing. Just that open curiosity that seemed to say, "Tell me more…"

"You startled the hell out of me and I overreacted and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings and I don't want you to leave…"

"Where would I go if I left?"

"I don't know, but that's a mute point. Whether you had somewhere else or not… I don't want you to leave. Will you stay? Please?"

He seemed to think about it longer than he should have, arms crossed in unnecessary severity that made me laugh and shake my head. Finally, his upper mandibles pulled in a small smile and he reached out to mess up my short hair, "Fine. No good on your own anyway. _Baby Jess_."

* * *

**I own nothing ^.^  
**

**Happy Reading!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

"Ah'mb gonnda diiiieee." I said, crawling out of my bedroom, ignoring Lar'ja leaning out of his room to tilt his head at me. I carried a pillow and my blanket and had eyes only for the couch. Until I sneezed, "Dtissues… where?"

I stumbled into the kitchen, grabbed the box of tissues, then wandered wearily back into the living room where I fell face first onto the couch. I was just starting to drift off into blessed oblivion where no cold has ever strayed when I was awakened by Lar'ja poking me on the arm.

"Baby Jess?"

"Whadt?"

"Are you not good?"

I almost growled but my throat hurt so it came out as a groan punctuated by a cough, "No… I amb nodt good. Bad. Very bad. Nexdt Dtime you hang mbe fromb a dtree whend idt's cold oudt, ad leasdt ledt mbe gedt a coadt on firsdt. Damb you."

"Ahhh,' he said and the sound stuttered through his clicks, "Poor, delicate Baby Jess. Am sorry."

He obviously wasn't. I glared blearily at him and coughed, "I hopbe you die a thousand deaths, mby friend."

He laughed and wandered off into the kitchen. I hadn't realized that I'd fallen asleep until I was shaken awake. Startled, I looked around and stared incredulously at the clock on the wall in front of me. It was three in the afternoon and I had slept for seven hours. It felt like I hadn't slept at all. Ugh.

"Baby Jess, here."

He had a bowl and a mug (my favorite mug) in both hands and both had steam coming from them. Good enough for me. Wearily, I sat up and took the offerings from him, eying the contents, "Soupb and a Hodt Dtoddy? You cand cook?"

He crossed his arms and frowned down at me, clearly not about to say anything until I had at least tried his offerings. I knew he knew how to make a Toddy. All winter he'd done nothing but whine about being cold so I'd taught him how and even went so far as to put all the necessary ingredients in a cupboard just for him so he'd know where everything was at all times. He'd left the cloves and cinnamon stick in the Toddy and though I couldn't smell anything, it at least _looked_ ok. The soup I recognized as one of those "just add water" ramen mixes I had bought a while back with pieces of leftover rotisserie chicken bought from the local deli and some chives sprinkled in. That explained how someone who didn't know how to cook managed to make me soup.

I took a tentative sip of both and my eyebrows went up, "Heeeey! Dthese are good!"

His shoulders eased but he maintained his "I'm-a-mountain" pose while I ate. The Toddy opened my sinuses and I was finally able to taste the soup properly and, finishing it quickly, found it to be quite good, "Is there andything you can'dt do?"

He smirked, "Give birth."

Ask a silly question…

I rolled my eyes and nearly jumped out of my skin when the phone rang. Why was it sitting next to me? Glancing at Lar'ja curiously, I answered, "Hello?"

"_Oh, Baby. You sound awful."_

I sighed, "Heya, Mba. Yeah. I hab a cold."

"_Are you taking care of yourself? You know I don't like how alone you are."_

That explained the once-a-day calls.

"Ah, no, Mba. Acdtually, I-uh. I have a friend here who's dtaking care of mbe."

Lar'ja grinned brightly, or as brightly as a 7'5" alien with freaking mandibles can grin, anyway, clearly pleased for some reason that I had called him "friend". My mom made one of those "Ohh!" sounds of high interest, "_Sweetie, you have friends? Why have you never mentioned them?"_

"Ob course I hab friends, Momb. Geeze."

"_Well, I just worry about you. So tell me about her._"

I cringed, "He… acdtually."

"_Your friend is a __**man**__? Is he single? Ohhh, is he, you know, a '__**friend**__'?"_

I face palmed, "No, Mba. Idt's nodt like thadt."

"_You're going to chase this one away like you do all the others, Jessie. If he's there taking care of you when you're sick, there's obviously a reason."_ She said severely as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Poor Lar'ja was having a difficult time keeping his laughter quiet. I sighed, "He owed mbe one."

"_What was that?"_

"Ndothing, Mba."

"_Oh. Well, I want to talk to him."_

"Uhhh…" But Lar'ja was gesturing for the phone, fingers wiggling. This was going to end badly, I just knew it, "…Ok. Here"

I handed the phone off to him, expecting the worst, but then he spoke and my jaw dropped. In a very _human_ rolling baritone, he said, "Hello Mrs. Michells, it's nice to finally get to talk to you."

He grinned wickedly at me. I couldn't hear what my mom said, but he was obviously amused, "Not at all. No, we really _are_ just friends. I was injured a while back and Baby Jess took care of me so now it's my turn to take care of _her_. Absolutely. No. In fact it's my fault she is ill right now. Yes. She was just hanging out with me, but wasn't wearing a coat. I really should have insisted, but you know how she is."

My eyes widened. Bastard! I grabbed one of the smaller couch pillows and threw it at him. He laughed (like a human), but his mandible grin widened. I was gonna kill him. "Hanging out" indeed. That is if you count being suspended from a _tree branch_ "hanging out". "You know how she is"? What a jerk! I was about to tell him just what I thought when I started coughing and couldn't seem to stop. Leaning hunched over against the back of the couch, coughing my lungs up into my hands, it took a while to realize that there was a large hand petting my hair and soothing over my back. Another hand was holding my mug and offered it to me once the fit had calmed. Obviously the phone conversation was over.

I took the mug gratefully and the honey in the Toddy was a balm to my throat. I was glad I'd finished the soup because otherwise I would have been wearing it. My breath eased out of me slowly and I relaxed under the soothing motions of that warm hand, "I didn'dt kndow you could dtalk like thadt."

"Picked up on many hunts. Not usually worth the effort."

I let that go.

I was about to say something when he picked me up and settled me (with a startled squeak) on his lap. Leaning back into the couch, he pulled me close, drew my blanket up around me and went back to petting my hair, "There. Better, yes?"

Confused, I sat frozen and tense for a few moments, but after a while it was clear he had no intention of doing anything else. I began relaxing and the warmth of his body heat and the blanket slowly lulled me to sleep. The last thing I remembered was the soothing motion of his hand petting me and the low purr in his chest.

* * *

I woke up hours later, alone and tucked into bed. It was dark out and the digital clock resting on my bedside table read eleven thirty three in bright green. There was a glass of water and my box of tissues set next to the clock and within easy reach and I had to wonder at my house guest. He really was pretty strange. One minute he's hanging me upside down from a tree and speaking in broken English, the next he's taking care of me and talking to my mom like any other normal human being might. But he wasn't human at all, normal or otherwise.

Crawling out of bed, I stumbled into the bathroom and hit the lights. Groaning at the sudden brightness, I went into the medicine cabinet and pulled out the nasal spray. I was tired of not being able to breath, damn it. Habit-forming or no, I was _going_ to _breath_!

Four sprays and five tissues later I was able to draw a blessedly clear breath. Draining my water glass, I shuffled my way into the dark hallway. There wasn't a single light on anywhere, not even in Lar'ja's room (after all, why would he need light?) where I could hear him sharpening his blades, though I did see the faint flickering under the door that told me he had the fire going.

I heard him pause briefly when I stubbed my toe and swore a blue streak, but he went back to his weapons honing and let me continue on my way to the kitchen for more water. Heading back to bed, I stopped by his door and knocked lightly. He put his tools down and stood, walking to the door, and then I was suddenly looking up at him. He wore only a white linen loincloth, but he was covered and that was all I could really ask.

His head tilted with his standard roll of clicks and I had to smile. Who else could say that they had an alien for a friend?

"Hey, sorry for bothering you but I wanted to say thanks for everything." My voice was still thick, but at least I could be understood, now.

He shook his head, "No need. Do more for me with less reason. Sound better now."

"Yeah, I took some medicine so I'm not talking funny any more. Throat still hurts, though."

He gave me a firm nod, expression severe, "Then back to bed, Baby Jess."

His tone was as firm as his nod and I grinned again. The shoe was on the other foot, apparently, "Yeah, I was headed there. I just needed more water and to say thanks. Really. You were right yesterday. I don't do well on my own, I guess. I would have just stayed on the couch and ignored everything else."

He shook his head and gave my shoulder a gentle shake, "_No need_. Bed now."

"Yeah, I'm goin'. G'night, Lar'ja."

"Sei-i gaun, Baby Jess."

I made my way back to bed and found that in my absence, both cats had decided that my spot was the coziest. Pouncer had even gone so far as to claim my pillow. I had to push them off and though Loki left with a minimum of hassle, Pouncer refused to be moved without letting me know he was not happy about it which involved five minutes of him jumping back up and crouching on my pillow every time I managed to push him off.

"Honestly, boy. It's a _king-sized bed_." Finally tired of dealing with it, I picked him up then laid down and simultaneously tossed Pouncer to the floor, "Sei-i gaun, kitty."

* * *

_**Gaun: Night (taken from Aliens vs. Predator Prey so if you have issue with it, bother the authors)**_

_**Sei-i: Yes/Affirmative (had to do a search for this and since I couldn't find the word for "good", I had to take the next best. If you happen to know it, fill me in and I'll make the switch. I like being accurate, after all)**_

**I own nothing ^.^  
**

**Happy Reading!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, uh… Lar'ja?" I said, standing at the front door. I'd been about to head off to the store (I was out of tissues), but was now stuck staring at the tree line ahead.

"Yes?" His voice drifted down the hall from his room. Usually he kept the door closed whether he was in it or not and Heaven help me if I ever go in to vacuum without his express permission. The last time I had tried, he had roared at me and threatened to toss me into the lake.

"Have you started hunting? I mean, you know… More than just rabbits and such?"

It must've been difficult to hunt by sound alone, but his hearing was at _least_ ten times better than my own. He'd once told me that he could hear my heart beating from across the house so I should give up trying to sneak up on him. My response was to play loud music more often, but so far, no luck.

He leaned out of his doorway, head tilted in that strange, bird-like way of his, "Not yet. Soon. Today. Why?"

"Oh good, then I won't have to yell at you for hanging a skinned, still bleeding deer carcass from the trees."

His mandibles spread in what looked like surprise and all motion ceased for a moment before he ducked in to his room and came back out with his mask in his hands. He fiddled with it a moment, then handed it to me, "Do not press to your face. Just look."

I wondered what would happen if I pressed it to my face. After all, I'd seen him wear it any number of times and nothing bad happened to _him_. Still, I wasn't about to argue, not after the ki'cti'pa incident. Lifting the mask to my face, I looked through the "eyes" and grinned, "Heeey! This is _cool_! I want one!"

He growled impatiently, "Trees, Baby Jess. Look. At. The. Trees."

So I did. There was nothing besides squirrels and the rapidly cooling deer. I wondered if I was missing something, so I stepped outside to get a better look around, Lar'ja rumbling unhappily at my back, "There's nothing except for the usual fauna. You know, this is kinda like cheating, isn't it? You guys are already better than anything else in creation. Do you need to see in heat signatures, too?"

Grumbling, he took the mask out of my hands, "See heat signatures anyway. Would make no sense if masks showed anything else. Besides," he held up the mask, "can be weakness as well as strength. Only see heat. Not always good. Training blindfolded is good thing."

"Ah. Well then, you wanna explain the deer to me?"

He considered a moment, his clicks starting out high and fast only to shift to a low rumble in his throat, "Pack mates still here. Best guess. Message. Let me know they know I live. Warning to you for helping me. We are being hunted."

I wanted to laugh but the look on his face stopped me, the laughter catching in my throat, "You're not joking, are you?"

He shrugged, "They are Bad Blood. Surprised? Should not be."

"But…" I felt cold, "There are four of them…"

"Yes?"

I wrapped my arms around myself, frowning at the body in the tree, and he seemed to regard me quietly a moment before putting a hand on my shoulder and giving it a shake, "Owe you a life. Owe you for kindness, honor, friendship. Will protect you."

I nodded but a part of me wanted to say, "But you're blind and there are four of them." I couldn't though. We were going to die and I wasn't going to discourage Lar'ja. I cared too much to hurt his feelings like that. So instead, I wrapped my arms around his waist (tried to) and hugged him, the top of my head only coming up to his chest. He stilled in surprise, tense, but just as I was about to pull away, he pulled me closer. His left arm behind my shoulders and his right hand at the back of my head. He seemed to understand that this unnerved me, but somehow, for some reason, he wasn't holding that against me.

"Will live, Baby Jess, and I. _Will_. Protect you." He rumbled quietly. I nodded.

"I believe you. Should I start carrying my gun?"

"No. Do not give a reason."

"But you said they were Bad Bloods. Surely they don't _need_ a reason." I laughed weakly.

He patted me on the top of my head, pulling away, "No gun. Trust."

It was my turn to grumble, "Then what's the point in even having it?"

"Gun works on ooman. Not Yautja. And absolutely not _four_. Gun is useless."

"Well damn. Is it safe to leave the house?"

He shrugged, "As safe as always, Baby Jess. You go shopping. I go hunt."

"Wait, what? You're going after them?"

"Hmmm?" The sound stuttered, then he barked a laugh, "They left! No. I hunt deer. Not Bad Bloods. But that, Baby Jess, is good idea. Turn hunt back on them. Yes. Could work."

Then he turned and walked back into the house, closing the door and leaving me standing there staring, open mouthed, "What the hell just happened?"

* * *

I was walking into Wal-Mart when I felt "eyes" on me. Pausing, I looked around, carefully trying to spot the "heat shimmer" that was a cloaked Yautja. It was only by chance that I looked up toward the roof of the building to see four, shimmery figures crouched, watching me. I stared at them for a long time and eventually, they started exchanging glances. When they looked back, I flipped them off with both hands and walked into the store.

Probably not the smartest thing I'd ever done, but hey! Maybe they wouldn't know what that meant? I knew Lar'ja knew what it meant. He'd flipped me off the one time I switched his Danzig out with Hanson as a joke. The look on his face when "Mmm Bop" had started up had been totally worth the pain of having to listen to it myself.

Oh, who was I kidding? I bet they knew what it meant.

This was confirmed when I went back out to my 4x4 and saw a dead squirrel in the back seat, "Ewwww! Nasty, dude… Eck!"

What was next? Ding-Dong Ditch? Flaming poo on the front step? _Honestly_. I had to dump the contents of one of my plastic bags on the front seat and use the bag to scoop up the animal, then dump it in the nearest trash can. So gross! When I turned back, there was a shimmer crouched on the roof of my SUV, watching my "eww, so gross" dance. My only comfort was that if they were _here_, Lar'ja wasn't in any danger.

"You know," I said, glad no one else was around to hear me talk to the air, "You guys were pretty shitty to Lar'ja."

Like who else could they be, after all?

He leaned forward, slowly, head tilted while making a series of low, growling clicks in his throat. His claws were scratching the hell out the paint job, and though his tone was mocking, it was a perfect imitation of my voice which creeped the hell outta me, "_You know, Lar'ja-thwei turned his back on his own pack mates. We are hunted now because of Lar'ja-thwei. You should have chosen your friends more wisely_."

"You're the one that left him and his belongings for me to take care of. _I_ sure as hell didn't choose this, but now? Hell yes he's my friend. So what? You're gonna kill me now?" I pretended to be bored, but inside I was shaking. I wouldn't have been able to fool Lar'ja being as worked up at the moment as I was, but this guy had no idea or he'd have used the knowledge. No wonder Lar'ja said he was the best. Even with working eyes and that mask on this guy was clueless.

His rippling form hopped down from the roof of my car and had me by the throat before I could move away. He growled in my face and I felt the tips of his claws pierce my skin, "_Yes. I will kill you. Because you're his friend. Because you're human. Because it would be fun watching you scream and struggle, dangling bloody on the end of my ki'cti'pa. But not right now. Later_!"

Dropping me unceremoniously, he turned and made for the tree line at the edge of the lot, leaving me to climb into my car and try to calm my nerves.

* * *

I was still shaking when I pulled into my garage. Lar'ja wasn't back from his hunt yet, but I was hoping he would be soon. I needed to tell him what happened. He needed to know what was going on. And I wanted to know what that bottom-feeding piece of pond scum meant when he'd said Lar'ja had turned his back on them. And I so didn't want him wandering the woods right now…

I curled up on my couch and watched the hours crawl by, wrapped up tightly in a blanket and was so lost in my thoughts that I hadn't heard Lar'ja walk into the living room.

"Baby Jess!" He shouted with all the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning.

I shrieked in surprise, overbalanced and tumbled off the couch with an "Oof!" of pain, tangled in the blanket. Lar'ja stood with his shoulders hunched sheepishly, but he was grinning, clearly trying not to laugh, "Ahhh, Baby Jess. Sorry…"

He wasn't.

"S'ok…" I tried to calm my racing heart, "S'up, Lar'ja?"

He crouched next to me and helped me get rearranged, pulling me to my feet, "Come see! Was a good hunt!"

Taking my hand, he tugged me along behind him, dragging me outside into the late afternoon sun where his kill lay waiting and all thoughts of his former hunting buddies disappeared. My jaw dropped, "How the hell did you find a moose?"

He grinned proudly, "Was a good fight! Wish to mount the skull with the others."

"I didn't know I had moose in my woods… Damn. Well fought, my friend. Too bad this isn't fall. The antlers would be impressive and the males are a lot more aggressive." I said, going up on my toes to give his shoulder a shake.

He beamed and, purring, tossed his dreadlocks over his shoulder, feathers and fangs swinging, "Ah, well. Look forward to Fall then. Very fun!"

I watched him for a moment, having never seen him so very happy or relaxed, and decided that I'd never seen anyone as beautiful as he looked right then. Tall, proud, and powerful, haloed by the evening sun and standing over his kill, he almost looked like some pagan deity. Though his eyes were blank and unseeing, I knew that pleased grin of his was for me, inviting me to share the joy of his victory. My heart warmed and melted and I couldn't help but to smile as well, honored beyond belief that he'd wanted to show this triumph to me.

_This_ was the man who'd supposedly turned his back on people he'd given his loyalty to? When just a few words of praise seemed to mean everything to him? When he had been nothing but loyal, helpful, and honorable (in spite of the pranks) to someone who wasn't even his kind? I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't. He didn't have a dishonorable bone in his body. His former pals on the other hand…

I watched while he cheerfully tore the skull free of the body in a gesture of cold, practiced, ruthless efficiency while humming Hero of the Day. I had to turn my head away, hand covering my mouth. Even in spite of the smell of blood, I would have been ok if it wasn't for the _squelching_ noise. I shuddered in disgust. Not that I thought there was anything wrong with taking the trophy, and I wasn't disgusted with Lar'ja certainly… But the _sound_. Ewww.

"Very quiet, Baby Jess." he said, bleeding skull in his hand.

I shook my head and grinned. _Now_ the image of the pagan deity was complete, "Hey, this is your moment, dude. Blind, but still totally bad-ass. I am in awe of your skill, your nerve, your cunning! You're a sexy beast, Lar'ja."

He threw his head back and laughed. It was an almost joyous sound that I'd never heard from him before. It was as though he'd taken his life back and I was happy for him. I needed to tell him what had happened earlier. He deserved to know, but… I couldn't. Not right now. Not when he was high like this. I didn't want to be the reason he had to come back down.

I was, however, going to get some info out of him, "Hey, you know that voice you used when talking to my mom?"

He tilted his head, clicking briefly, "Was days ago, Baby Jess. Why now?"

"I just remembered."

He huffed, "Hunted an ooman male twenty of your years ago. Spoke too much. Yautja can mimic voice and phrases and adapt others at need. But is annoying. Much so. Used voice and many phrases I'd heard him speak. And some words and phrases from others."

"Yeah, but you _can_ speak proper English." I said.

"Can. Won't." He smirked.

My jaw dropped, "For God's sake, why not?"

"English annoying. Would rather speak _my_ language. If I am annoyed, Baby Jess is too."

I almost laughed at the audacity, but didn't want to encourage him, "Spiteful bastard."

"Yes, but endured annoyance for Baby Jess. Now Baby Jess is left in peace. Yes?"

"Well, not really. Now Mom wants to know when the wedding is."

"Wedding?" He shoved a tube up against a hole in the skull and the device it was connected to sucked the brains out. I was gonna be ill, "What is wedding?"

"Doesn't matter," I said, "I told her there wasn't gonna be one. She started crying. She's positive I'm gonna die alone some day."

He sighed, head bent over his work as though he could still see, "Baby Jess… No. Won't die alone. Promise." His upper mandibles twitched, "Would this 'wedding' make you happy?"

It was my turn to laugh, recognizing all the signs of a mischievous Lar'ja, "No, Lar'ja. It wouldn't. Or at least not all by itself for its own sake. A wedding is a ceremony where a male and female promise to be mates for life."

"For _life_?" He seemed appalled, then his brow ridge went up and he grinned, "Ohhh. Then when you said you would love me _forever_ that was-"

"No you don't, Lar'ja! If you recall, I took that back." The son-of-a-gun…

He huffed and angled a frown up at me, "You lie, Baby Jess. You love me. You know it. Even said I am a sexy beast."

I had to grin, "Well yeah, you're a treat for the eyes, but I think you'd just break my heart. After all, how many kids did you say you have now?"

One clawed finger came up as though to emphasize a point, "That was business. This is pleasure."

I laughed again and he grinned at me. The big, green jerk.

* * *

We stood in the basement after just hanging the newest trophy and I had to admit that I liked how it looked where it was. It was the first real kill he'd made since taking up residence under my roof and so, in honor of his defiance toward fate and his former team, the moose skull took its place next to the banana-shaped skull of the creature he'd killed during his "chiva" and the Queen skull of the same race of aliens (candy amanda?) taken, according to him, fifty years ago. All three were in a place of high honor in the center and Lar'ja had not stopped purring since it was hung there.

It was irrefutable proof that though he was blind, he was still a hunter. I grinned, "And who was it that asked what good a blind hunter was? And that wasn't a young bull, either. Had it been Fall, the rack would have been huge."

He grinned, preening, "Because of you, Baby Jess. Had faith when I had none. Said what needed to be said. And you were right."

I chuckled, "Maybe, but I'm no hunter. I'm not a warrior. I certainly never had training on anything other than how to shoot a gun. I'm better with words. You're the one who did the work."

He gave a firm nod, "No shame. Honest. To lie is bad. Worse to lie to yourself. Had lied to myself, but you wouldn't allow. Owe you much."

"Pfft," I waved it off and he smiled at me only to reach up and mess up my short, cinnamon colored hair, "Hey! Uncalled for!"

"You said before."

"I meant it! 'Keep-away' is not an ok game to play when you're as tall as a God-damned mountain."

He laughed and again it was that joyous sound, "Poor Baby Jess."

"Uh-huh. Sure. You're somehow less than believable when you grin like that."

"Very well," He sat where he stood and angled his face up at me, "Sit. Then tell me what you have been keeping to yourself. Am hunter. Can take it."

"Huh?"

"_Huh_?" He imitated in my voice.

It made me automatically tense and he inclined his head in a slow nod of acknowledgment, "Tell me."

I should have known he'd notice. So I told him.

* * *

There hadn't been much to say really so it didn't take long. He conversationally called me an idiot when I mentioned that I had flipped them off, but conceded that it probably wouldn't have made a lot of difference one way or the other. Then I told him about the squirrel and he did that eye-roll head toss ("But it was really nasty, Lar'ja!") and he said it was just as childish as what I had done and so I had no reason to bitch. When I told him how I had been threatened, however, his mandibles closed so quickly the tusks clicked against his fangs. He sat and shook in his growing temper. He reached out and lightly felt along the skin of my throat and I knew better than to pull away. It didn't take him long to find the breaks in my skin.

His brow ridge lowered in anger and he flared his mandibles and growled, a sound of deep rage, "Hurt you... Yet _I_ am now responsible for their cowardice? _I_?_ I_ turn _my_ back…? Distance myself from their dishonor, but should they have ever needed,_ I_ was there. Was loyal. But had honor! Was respected! And their methods were questioned! _Repeatedly_! _They_ knew and did not care. 'What is one more ooman?' they said, 'No one will know.' _I_ knew. Knew the difference between a grown male with a gun and a female child trying to survive. So I stepped in. Now, am blind and will _still_ kill them because they have hurt you and threatened the last thing that I care about!"

I wanted to make a joke (the silk?) but found it impossible. He'd rediscovered himself here and now his new home, no matter how temporary, was being threatened. I felt somehow responsible for this mess. Quietly, I said, "Sorry, Lar'ja."

He growled, though I knew it wasn't directed at me, and shook his head. Standing, he began to pace, growling and agitated, muscles knotted and tense. The outrage must have gone deeper than I had thought if something like this was all it took to set him off, "Not your fault, Baby Jess. Not yours. _Theirs_. The fault! It is _completely _theirs! How _dare_? Threaten Baby Jess! Unarmed! Did _nothing_ to deserve! _Will rid them of their dishonor when I rid them of their unworthy lives_!" he turned his face toward me, mandibles flared aggressively. I was wide eyed at the rage I saw there and had no idea where it came from when he roared, "Need not fear _his_ ki'cti'pa, Baby Jess! _Need not when they will be dancing at the end of_ **_mine_**!"

* * *

**Needless to say (though I'll say it anyway), I own nothing. ^.^**

**Happy Reading!  
**


	7. Chapter 7

"No _no NO_! Where _is_ it? I know I left it right… Oh c'_mon_! I'm gonna kill him. He's dead! He's _so_ _dead_! A dead Yautja walking! You hear that? Yup. That's the sound of Death's clock ticking away for Lar'ja! The big idiot."

I huffed and closed my gun safe. Why bother locking anything when he can pick any lock ever made and steal whatever he wants? Now I don't know where my gun is. I don't know where _he_ is. Had no idea where my headphones were, and I wanted my damn gun! I just didn't feel safe anymore. Even though he had assured me that the gun wasn't just useless, it was, in fact, suicidally stupid to carry around (I'm dangerous! Kill me!), I couldn't help it. I was too old for a security blanket. I knew how to shoot. I was good at it. I wanted my gun.

AND THE YAUTJA BASTARD TOOK IT!

Growling, I stalked out of my office, down the hall, and into the living room where all of the furniture was upside down except the recliner (which was upside down on my bed), grumbling death threats under my breath. Even the lamps were upside down and set just-so, still plugged in, on the upside down coffee tables. Normally such a display would make me laugh. Now I was just angry. First my headphones disappear, then my gun, and now I have to fix my living room. Great. Just... freaking _great_.

It wasn't fair. I had to deal with the constant threat of four angry Yautja hunters who had nothing left to lose and now, apparently, I couldn't even listen to my music whenever I pleased ("Nirvana is bad anyway, Baby Jess. Very whiney."). I was not happy, my skin felt tight and itchy, and I wanted my gun and my music. It didn't help that Lar'ja was a man on the edge now as well (though he still continued pulling pranks for some reason…). It was late April and each week from the day of that first dead animal in the trees to now there was one new animal that had become a gruesome promise. I found it disturbing, but it enraged Lar'ja.

I would never forget the morning we discovered the second corpse only a week after the first. It had been a young doe in life and had been horribly mutilated, hung lower than normal so it was the first thing one saw from the doorway. I hadn't thought anything of it specifically beyond the obvious (oh look! A dead animal in the trees…) but Lar'ja had gone ballistic. He had disappeared into the basement only to come back up armed with a rough-cut wooden pike. I had wondered at the time why he even had it, but it didn't really matter. Stepping out of the front door, he launched it at the remains in one smooth motion, impaling it effortlessly. Considering how far away it was, I was quite impressed, though I told him it hit the abdomen, not the heart. His response?

"Good. Wasn't aiming for _her_ heart anyway."

It had taken me a few confused moments to realize that it had hit, roughly, where the heart of someone Lar'ja's height would be. He had drawn the proverbial line in the sand and the dead animal's head had been mounted on the spear and stuck in my front yard the next morning. After that, they appeared with grisly regularity and I was glad I hadn't had any subbing jobs. I didn't want to put one of those kids at risk of being the next body in the trees.

And Lar'ja had become almost ridiculous about the whole "don't hold a weapon" thing. So much so that he had tried to yell at me for slicing an apple to which I finally snapped at him and he stalked off to his room, growling like an unhappy mountain. Had I known he was going to take my gun in retaliation, I might have hidden the gun elsewhere. Silly me for being responsible.

Unhappy, I made my way out to the back porch, glancing briefly to the new garden and its freshly tilled soil. Murderous, rampaging Yautja Bad Bloods or no, I needed to be by the water for a bit. The ice had melted though the water was still extremely cold, but that mattered not at all to me. I was nearing the tree that Lar'ja had strung me up from when I noticed the shimmery ripple of air on one of the heavier branches. I paused, my heart in my throat.

The creature watched me carefully for a few moments. If it thought I was going to lie to myself and convince my brain it was just processing info wrong, he was sadly mistaken. I began backing up slowly, but I hadn't gone more than three steps when he hopped down out of the tree. Punching buttons on his wrist console, the invisibility pulled back and I almost shriveled up and faded away. He _had_ to have been a full eight feet tall. His muscles were large and sharply defined and his coloring was much the same as Lar'ja's, but darker. All of his armor, and there was quite a bit of it, including his mask was silvery and of no metal that I'd ever seen before. His dreadlocks, also like Lar'ja's, had beads (but no feathers), though this guy's beads were very distinct. From my vantage point, they looked like small skulls set over the standard bead in the same silvery metal of his armor. There was also one human and (I was shocked) two Yautja skulls on his left hip. Bad Blood indeed.

The creature, and I called him this because as far as I was concerned he was nothing like Lar'ja, walked closer, slowly, with a roll of low, growling clicks firing rapidly in his throat. He started to bring his hands with their wicked black talons up and I panicked. I turned to run but tripped on the shovel that had been left out from putting in the garden, though why it was right _there_ I had no idea. I was absolutely willing to blame Lar'ja for the five seconds this guy was going to let me live. He jerked back as though startled, then started forward with a purpose, hand reaching. Adrenaline surged in me and, grabbing the shovel, I came up on one knee and swung with all of my strength. The heavy metal hit him in the face with a clang. His head snapped back and I came up on my feet, bringing the shovel down on the back of his head. He sprawled, dazed, and I ran for it, slamming the door closed behind me and throwing the lock and deadbolt.

Something heavy hit the door several times and my heart raced. Panic made me run for the kitchen and I heard the door fly open behind me. I needed a knife! I didn't have a gun, but there were knives in the kitchen! Wait! No there weren't! Where the hell were the knives? I _needed_ a _knife_! _Where were all the knives_? Lar'ja you _bastard_! How dare you make it impossible for me to defend myself! If I die, I'm going to _kill_ you!

The clicking of claws on the linoleum was all the warning I had. From around the corner came the nameless giant. He growled, advancing slowly, and I shook in terror, leaning back against the cupboards. Then Lar'ja entered after him and trilled a greeting.

"Baby Jess, this is Luar'ke-de. He is an Arbitrator. Ahhh, he is my brother."

Time seemed to freeze. I looked, wide eyed and still shaking in fear, to the giant who growled (grumbled) and rubbed the back of his head. My eyes went back to Lar'ja, "A-Arbitrator? Your… brother?"

He smirked, very amused, "Yes."

Relearning how to breath, I gradually stopped trembling.

I almost apologized, but then a hot anger bubbled up within me. I might have apologized about the shovel, but Lar'ja was actually _amused_ by this. My limbs shook with the need to hit him in his smug face and I stalked forward. Reaching up, I grabbed Lar'ja's mandibles and pulled him down to my level. His brow ridge went up and Luar'ke-de froze, then snickered and watched contentedly with his head cocked to the side.

"What the _hell_ is the matter with you? You _bastard_, Lar'ja! How dare you find this funny? The kitchen knives! They belong in the _kitchen_! You will bring them _back_! The furniture in the living room will be put right fucking side up! Including the recliner _on my bed_! The _shovel_ outside that I tripped on in my attempt to flee for my life will be put _away_! Do you understand me, Lar'ja-thwei?"

He nodded rapidly and I released his mandibles with a push. Shoulders hunched, he sheepishly shuffled from the kitchen to do my bidding. Then I turned to Luar'ke-de who was laughing at Lar'ja. I put my hands on my hips and quirked a brow (oh really?) "And _you_."

His attention snapped back to me and he took a step back.

"Ever consider _not_ approaching someone who's obviously freaked out by you?"

He tilted his head and seemed to think about that for a moment, then shook his head, beads clacking against each other.

"No, of course not." I pinched the bridge of my nose, "The two of you are _obviously_ related. How _could_ I have missed it?"

It was sarcastic and rhetorical, but Luar'ke-de shrugged anyway.

* * *

I was curled up on my couch about as far away as I could get from either of them, but was watching the newcomer warily. Lar'ja was one thing, but the four others of his kind that I had met were the biggest whack-jobs I'd ever seen. Though Luar'ke-de seemed to be going out of his way to be non-threatening, he also seemed to realize that there was only so much he'd be able to do to put me at ease.

"Thought me dead," Lar'ja said with a dark smirk, "Imagine! But now _I_ get first claim. Was my honor that was taken. Must take it back."

I scowled, "That's fucking stupid, Lar'ja. You've always had your honor. You've never been anything _less_ than honorable the entire time you've been here. They destroyed their _own_ honor. True, it's personal between you and them. They've wronged you and for that, they should pay, but your honor remains intact and if it were myself in your situation, I don't think I could have said the same."

Luar'ke-de clapped slowly, a human gesture (agreeing with me?). He hadn't said anything the entire time he'd been here, but he _seemed_ ok… I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of his wrist blades… but still… I watched him turn to Lar'ja who seemed somewhat surprised when the larger male gripped his shoulder and gave it a brief shake before stepping back. I took the opportunity to examine the giant again and decided the skull beads were actually pretty cool.

He caught me looking and turned his head, posing so I could get a better look. Lar'ja gave that eye-roll head jerk.

"Luar'ke-de is vain." He said, "Do not encourage."

The male in question rumbled a few words in his own language and it was the first he'd spoken in my presence. Lar'ja grinned and gabled back and they both laughed. I frowned, "What are you guys saying?"

Lar'ja smirked, "Said I was jealous. Told him I am grateful to be blind. Now no longer have to look at him."

I rolled my eyes, "And you guys are brothers? You seem more like friends."

Lar'ja nodded, "Is my brother. Share the same sire. Close, yes. That is why it was Luar'ke-de who was sent. Thought me dead and knew that the four who had done were still alive. Only an experienced Arbitrator would be sent. Luar'ke-de _asked_ to be that one. He is Arbitrator and so has that right. They trusted him to succeed _because_ he and I are close. Does not always work that way though."

That explained why the newest giant in my home seemed friendly.

"Hate to say," Luar'ke-de said, "but time wastes."

"You speak English?" I asked, frowning. He shrugged, silent.

Lar'ja nodded to his brother, "True. What do you know?"

Not much more than us, it turned out, but what he _did_ know was incredibly disturbing. Shortly after they had betrayed Lar'ja, they had ambushed another pack and stole their ship, killing two warriors (pilot and navigator). That wouldn't have been so bad except that there was a captive Queen on board. And four Bad Bloods now had control over her. I was hoping that they would be so angry with us that they'd want to kill us with their own hands. Judging by the reaction of the two warriors in the room, I was starting to think that maybe that hope was misplaced.

"Didn't you guys _have_ a ship?" I asked Lar'ja who nodded.

"But no Queen."

Luar'ke-de sat in the recliner and finally took his mask off, placing it on the coffee table at his right, "They left their ship behind, taking the new one."

"What about all of their possessions? When they brought Lar'ja here, there was a _lot_ of… well, no offense, but _stuff_. It wasn't a simple task bringing it all in."

Luar'ke-de studied me for a moment with golden eyes as though trying to figure out what I was before glancing at Lar'ja and then back again, "Was simple matter. Wait until all but pilot and navigator leave to hunt. Kill those you have to, dump gear and bodies, then make switch. Most hunts last for days. These warriors had no idea anything was wrong until too late. And more, the Bad Bloods destroyed their old ship so no chance for pursuit."

"And then they came back here." I said.

"With a Queen." Lar'ja agreed grimly. My stomach dropped. I'd heard the stories. I didn't really fancy going out that way, thanks all the same.

"But it's personal, isn't it? Wouldn't they want to kill us themselves?" I asked. Hope springs eternal…

Lar'ja snorted, "Am blind and you are ooman, female, and unarmed. Angry, yes they are, but-"

"But that dude at Wal-Mart said he wanted to kill me himself." That sentence sounded absolutely ridiculous to me and I couldn't stop the grin. Luar'ke-de tilted his head watching me curiously while clicking in his throat.

"Is possible," Lar'ja said, "But would be wise not to trust."

"Well in that case, Lar'ja, useless or not, I want my gun back."

He stilled, "Ahhh… Baby Jess… I don't-"

"I know you have it, Lar'ja-thwei. You went into my office, broke into my gun safe, and took it. I want it back."

He sighed, frowning, and Luar'ke-de settled into his seat, seemingly content to watch this play out. Lar'ja fidgeted a bit, "Ahhh… I worry, Baby Jess."

"Well they're obviously going to try to kill me no matter what. I want my damn gun, Lar'ja. And for that matter, what the hell did you do with my headphones?"

"Baby Jess…"

"Lar'ja-thwei…" I mimicked his tone. He huffed.

"Cannot return headphones… Gun is in my room. Will return, but not yet. Do not argue. Trust."

I had so much to say about this I didn't know what to say first so I sat there and stuttered my outrage for a moment and finally ground out, "Why can't you return my headphones?"

Seemed I was going to tackle the easiest issue first. He fidgeted again and Luar'ke-de's expression clearly said he was amused. Good for him. I was not.

"Used them… Can't see, but can hear. Integrated them with my mask. Now when the mask shows a creature, it will give a tone depending on species and if I need to use my plasma caster, it will tell me when I am on target… All quiet, but I can hear. Will even tell me the layout of a room or forest so I do not need to relearn every place I go to."

A worthy cause if ever I'd heard one, but… "Damn it Lar'ja. I'd have bought you your own, you know. You didn't have to steal _mine_."

"Sorry, Baby Jess…"

"Gun?"

"Will not bend on this, Baby Jess. Will return it when you need it."

"Oh that's nice. I'm not even allowed to vacuum your room without permission or you flip out, but you're allowed to do whatever the hell you want? And don't think I've forgiven you for putting the recliner upside down on my bed…"

Luar'ke-de laughed and even Lar'ja snickered a bit, the sound something like a snake with hiccups. He calmed quickly though.

"Trust me?"

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, but Luar'ke-de beat me to the response, "Not about trust. You are in her home. Have taken things that belong to her. Obviously wants them back. If she wishes to fight, you must allow. Must wish to see how strong and worthy she is… Or no?"

Lar'ja shook his head, "Is more a matter of honor. Saved my life. Vowed to protect hers. Cannot do if she places herself in danger. Were it not for my given word, would let her do as she sees fit. If she dies because I did not do all I could, then my honor is compromised. Will not allow."

His brother shrugged, "True, but you are not at her side always. What if Bad Bloods release the kainde amedha? Would have no way to defend herself. What of your honor then?"

* * *

**Kainde Amedha- Hard meat  
**

**Luar'ke- Moon (add "de" on the end and it becomes a male name.)**

**I own nothing ^.^  
**

**Happy Reading!  
**


	8. Chapter 8

Lar'ja regarded his brother angrily, mandibles open, and demanded, "What would I do? She is a _storyteller_!"

"A storyteller that possesses a weapon and desire to use it, yes."

Snarling in anger, Lar'ja stormed from the room and I heard him take the stairs to the basement heavily. I winced, then looked to Luar'ke-de. He stared at me, eyes narrow, and was obviously waiting for something, but all I had were questions, "What's really going on here? I understand you were hunting those four bottom-feeders out there, but why are you _here_? Surely you didn't know Lar'ja was here. Or did you?"

He gave the barest shrug, "Yautja equipment have an energy pattern different from ooman. Consistently more _here_ than should be, so thought to check."

"A starting point?"

He gave a deep nod, "Originally thought Lar'ja-thwei was one I was hunting. Surprised to see my brother instead! Am… very angry that he is blind, but has adapted well. His grievance takes precedence over my anger. As you have said, he was wronged. Not I. Will forgive the shovel because you have cared for Lar'ja-thwei well. He is fond of you. Do not do again, though."

His golden eyes pinned me with a gaze that promised pain should I ever think to take a shovel to his head again. I didn't mean to, but I couldn't stop the grin, "I won't, I promise, but I can't help but feel sort proud of myself."

Rolling his eyes, he huffed, "Do not. Had I truly been hostile, there were many different ways at many different times that I could have ended you, shovel or no. You should know this. Ka'vin'tek, Ve'rin, Yr'yin, and Mah'te will not be kind. Foolish to assume that all are as… _noble_ as Lar'ja-thwei."

I slouched, disheartened. This totally sucked. What was I supposed to tell my mother?

"_Hey, Ma. Just letting you know I'm dying."_

"_What is it this time?"_

"_Remember Edward the Longfang? Well, he knows these guys who want to kill us all."_

"_Oh, God… Jess… You and that imagination."_

Yeah. That'd work. Sighing again, I looked at Luar'ke-de, "Well, you don't really seem so bad… You've been nice to _me_, anyway... For the most part."

He smirked and leaned forward, eyes narrow, "Owe you for care of Lar'ja-thwei. Know this; takes a certain kind to hunt others of their own race and oomans became boring for me many, many of your years ago. No. More. Shovel."

I blinked and nodded, but something morbid in me had me grinning again and I watched his head tilt in curiosity, "What _am_ I allowed to use? Rake? Hoe? Hammer? Gasoline and a match?"

Eyebrow ridge raised, he stared at me for a moment before laughing, narrow-eyed, and somehow sadistically satisfied, "Think Lar'ja-thwei underestimates your willingness to do what you must to survive. Perhaps worthier than I thought."

I didn't know what disturbed me more; that he obviously knew what those items were or that he knew they could be used lethally under the right circumstance. Maybe I didn't want to know.

"Worthy for what?"

He just grinned and settled back into the recliner, the look on his face now that of content pleasure and I knew he wasn't going to answer me. I sighed, but almost laughed when he closed his eyes and started purring quietly, a minute smile pulling his mandibles.

"Hey, you see that lever on the left side? Yeah, pull it toward you."

The foot rest swung out and Luar'ke-de trilled in interest, grinning, "Oomans not so bad after all! May want to go find Lar'ja-thwei. _I_ will be _here_."

Then he settled in, hands folded at his stomach, and closed his eyes again.

* * *

Go find, Lar'ja? Not hard. He certainly made enough noise leaving. I made my way down to the basement with every intention of telling him to grow up (even though he was about a century older than I was) only to find him sitting on the floor, back to the wall, with his head lowered and his forearms resting on his raised knees. I changed my mind then and there. I didn't think he could handle tough love at the moment.

I walked over to him and was about to sit next to him, when I found myself being pulled into his lap with a startled, "Oh!"

At least I didn't squeak this time.

He wrapped his arms around me, holding me close, with his face buried in my hair. For once, he was completely silent. No purrs, no clicks, I hardly even heard him breathe. It made me incredibly sad. Turning my upper body toward him, I wrapped my arms around his neck and he sighed, tucking his face against the side of my neck.

"Am sorry about your headphones."

"No big deal, just… you know. Ask next time. But I want to know what _really_ has you upset and I don't think it's the honor issue."

He pulled back, large hands on my shoulders, and gave me a slight shake. He frowned, "Do not want you hurt. Gave my word. Means much to me. But… No. Not all. What would I do? Where would I go? If you are killed… Honor… Would be meaningless. Can not see. All is dark. But you… you _became_ my light. Gave _purpose_. Guided when I faltered. Able to hunt now only because of you. Would have given up. Ended my life. Owe you much and cannot repay even some if you die."

I don't think I'd ever been quite so flattered. No one had ever said that I was their light before and I felt all warm inside. It was nice knowing that I made a real difference to someone. That it was someone I cared about simply made it all the better, "I have to be able to defend myself, though. And what do you mean, 'where would you go'? Wouldn't you leave with your brother? Go back to your people? I sort of thought you'd be leaving with him anyway. Wouldn't you?"

"Go nowhere without you, Baby Jess. They would not have helped me as you have. Would not understand. Half will think me weak because of my eyes, the other would seek to use. Only _you_ see me. Only you care. Trust you, Baby Jess. But now, must deal with a Queen as well as Bad Bloods. Do not know what to do. Want you safe. Want you strong. If I give you a weapon, you are fair game to the Yautja. If I do not, you become prey to the kainde amedha. Cannot be everywhere and would be foolish to depend on Luar'ke-de to help guard."

"I appreciate your concern, but Luar'ke-de was right. You can't be near me constantly, and Lar'ja... as much as I would love for you to stay here indefinitely, it wouldn't be safe. You have to know that. Assuming everything works out well, all of this will undoubtedly spark the attention of my government. I don't want you in a lab somewhere and I wouldn't be able to keep you safe. Plus, you live a lot longer than I will. In only fifty to seventy years, I'll be old or dead. Then what? I won't be able to help you anymore. I _am_ going to die long before you will. Let me decide how I get there, ok?"

His mandibles pulled into a Cheshire grin and it had all the look of someone who knows something that you don't and would probably want to. He'd started back up with the clicking and damned if he didn't look like the cat that ate the canary.

"Baby Jess, said that you would not die alone. Means that you cannot leave me to die alone either. Will just have to come with when I leave!"

Just like that, he was cheerful again. I laughed and shook my head, "And just never die, right? How lovely."

His grin widened and he purred, "There _is_ a way for you to live as long, Baby Jess. Just one way."

"Uh-huh. Sure thing. And while you're off hunting and entertaining Yautja ladies for hundreds of years, I'll be doing what?"

"No worries. Will not be alone. Won't allow."

"Ri~ight. Is this going to be one of your 'surprises'? Are there other humans among the Yautja? Or am I to be an exotic pet?" I grinned.

"Happens. But not for you." He said, reaching up and lightly traced my face with one hand. At first I thought it was like the hug, simply his strange need for touch, but then I realized that he was "seeing" me. This was reinforced when he snorted in disgust (while grinning), though he refused to take his hand away. "Ugh… Baby Jess… Why did you not say how ugly you were? Good thing you are entertaining and I am blind…"

My jaw dropped in outrage and his grin widened as far as his mandibles would allow, "You Yautja bastard! I am _not_ ugly! Have I ever called _you_ ugly? No! No I have not!"

He chuckled, "Ahhh, Baby Jess. No lie. Know I am gorgeous. I… Ahh, what phrase? Ah yes! I 'rock your world'."

Good thing I wasn't drinking anything at the moment or I would have choked, "And you say _Luar'ke-de _is vain!"

"Not bragging if the truth." He said with a sage nod that was ruined by his lopsided grin.

"You're trouble!" I said, trying not to laugh and not really succeeding, "I don't want to sit on your lap anymore. Besides, it's strange sitting in the lap of someone who's only wearing a loincloth."

"Ah! Should have said sooner. Will take it off for you then!"

My eyes went huge when he actually started untying the complex knot that secured the fabric in place while I was still in his lap, "No no! Not necessary! Damn it, man! I said stop!"

He laughed and it was all sin. I hadn't really seen him like this since those four bastards had returned. It was kinda nice, even if it _was_ at my expense, "Baby Jess, cannot tell me you are not curious."

I stuttered, "I- N-no! I am _not_ curious! You lecherous alien!"

Laughing again, he pulled me tight against him and ducked his head, hiding his face against the side of my neck with a low growl, "You sure, Baby Jess?"

I was too busy blushing to answer. He started purring and I shivered, somewhat confused and somewhat something else. It was a relief when the sound of a roar of outrage and a hiss of anger came from upstairs. Pouncer flew down the steps, not pausing because hot on his trail was Luar'ke-de. The Arbitrator, however, _did_ pause. He stared at us and I knew my face had to look like a small sun to his type of vision. While Lar'ja was relaxed, unrepentant, and still held me close, I wanted to shrivel up and blow away.

Luar'ke-de smirked, looked at the trophy wall, glanced back at us and then turned and walked back upstairs, closing the door behind him and forgetting all about Pouncer.

There was silence for a solid moment before I decided to break it, "You're a troubling-making bastard, Lar'ja."

He chuckled, "Don't deny. You love."

* * *

I was shaking, tears rolling down my face. I didn't know how much longer the door would last. The creature on the other side roared and screeched, demanding entry, and I knew it would be all over if I let that happen. Again, the alien hit the door with a roar of anger and I trembled, drew air deep into my lungs and-

Laughed. Hysterically.

"Baby Jess! Mean it! No more Mr. Roboto! Bad first time but I let go because it's Baby Jess! But this is number ten! _Enough_!"

"But I really like it…" Came the quieter, muffled reply of his brother. Lar'ja made a sound of deep disgust.

"H'ulij-bpe!" He replied with feeling before turning back to the door, "Baby Jess!"

"Nothin' doin', Lar'ja!" I grinned, leaning against the door as though that would help. I was in my office and was ignoring the confusing scene in the basement the previous night by tormenting the guy directly responsible. With the speakers hooked up to my laptop, the God-awful song was on repeat as loud as I could make it without damaging the equipment and it only made things better when Luar'ke-de decided it was the greatest song ever. Turned out the only song he liked better was Renegade. Go figure.

"Baby Jess! Will break the door down! I swear this!"

"Lar'ja-thwei! You break this door down and I'll duct tape your mandibles together! _And_ I'll get Luar'ke-de to help!"

"Will, too…" the Arbitrator replied, sounding almost eager.

I heard Lar'ja grumble.

"What was that?" I called with a grin.

"_Please_! Turn. It. Off!"

I thought about it, but figured I'd teased him enough for one morning. I walked over to the computer, turned the volume down, then shut the program off and I heard Lar'ja mumbled something about Paya. Luar'ke-de laughed and replied in their language but it was nothing that I could catch. Not that I'd understand it anyway.

Going back to the door, I unlocked it, and had it barely open when I was suddenly lifted and tossed over Lar'ja's shoulder, "Ah! What the hell? Lar'ja! Put me down, damn it!"

"Nothin' doin', Baby Jess." He replied and I could _hear_ him grinning.

"Where the hell? Oh no, not the tree again! You are _not_ allowed to hang me upside down!"

He walked through the house and out the back door with Luar'ke-de following close behind with a grin. Lar'ja shook his head, "No tree, Baby Jess. Does this comfort?"

"Uh… Not really. Please put me down!" I was beginning to see where this was going and I didn't like it. Not at all. I struggled, pulled his dreadlocks, anything I could think of, but he never hesitated.

He took the last ten steps at a run and I suddenly found myself airborne ("Oh _shiiiit_!") for half a second when icy lake water closed over my head. Breaking the surface, I gasped, "_COLD!_ OhmyGod!"

I swam for it, ignoring Luar'ke-de laughing that lion-like laugh of theirs. Lar'ja stood there, arms crossed, with his head tilted so he could hear me swim over his brothers humor. I was so cold and seemingly so far away from shore and after a moment or so was starting to tire. I'd never been a strong swimmer, and in cold, spring-time Lake Superior my abilities were so far from sterling that they might as well have been lead. Damned if I was going to ask for help though. Lar'jas smirk had disappeared, though Luar'ke-de was still grinning and chuckling. I didn't know what they could hear or see, but I doubted it was good.

Finally, I managed to crawl onto the beach and knelt there on the sand, my limbs too heavy to move. Lar'ja knelt next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. I was shaking with cold and exertion, and he looked nothing less than concerned. The cold of my skin seemed to worry him, "Baby Jess…"

"Don't worry about it." I said with a grin I knew was feral, "Plenty of songs out there more annoying than Mr. Roboto. You will rue this day, Lar'ja. _Rue_!" Then I stood shakily, stumbling, and waved off his attempt to help. I made my tired way back to the house, desperately in need of a hot shower, a change of clothes, and some hot chocolate with Kahlua.

Luar'ke-de grinned and as I walked away, heard him say to Lar'ja, "Have your hands full with that one. Good luck to you. Believe you will need it."

"Ahhh… Believe you are right. I think I worry…"

I grinned again. Oh yes, Lar'ja-thwei. So you should. It was _on_.

But after I got some sleep first.

* * *

Lar'ja, I decided, must have been feeling extremely guilty because he had become incredibly solicitous. When I came out of my room, warmer and dry in jeans and my black fleece hoodie, it was to find my book, my spiked hot chocolate, a blanket, and a warm Yautja lap to curl up on ("Only if you want, Baby Jess…"). That was ridiculous. Of course I wanted. His body temp was greater than mine and I still felt chilled. So once again I found myself sitting on his loincloth-clad lap and he insisted I be covered in the blanket while drinking my spiked hot cocoa. It seemed to be the beginning of a trend and I decided not to think on the implications too much. He held me close, purring, his face buried in my short, shoulder-length hair while his hands pet me in a soothing motion. I smirked.

"I _am_ an exotic pet, aren't I?"

"Never." he said, "Never a pet."

"And you want me to leave here with you assuming we all survive?"

"Yes."

"Yet you just threw me into a freezing cold lake."

"… Sorry, Baby Jess. Did not know it was so cold."

"You confuse me. You know that, right?"

"Am also confused."

"Oh good. So neither of us knows what the hell is going on."

He shook his head, "I care. That is enough."

* * *

**The names of the four Bad Bloods mean nothing. Made them up.**

**H'ulij-bpe: Crazy**

**Also, referencing Lar'ja's comment about knowing how to lengthen Jess's lifespan: I found this in the fourth Predator Omnibus. Some Japanese dude lived for a thousand years.  
**

**I own nothing ^.^  
**

**Happy Reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

I was dreaming. The details were sketchy, fragmented, but I knew there was moonlight and strong arms around me. Suddenly the arms and warmth disappeared only to be replaced by a large, warm hand on my arm and it was shaking me and a voice kept saying my name. My eyes snapped open and I was still being shaken. I was confused, only half awake, and when I blinked up at the ceiling, all I saw was a mask two inches from my face.

"AHH!"

The face jerked back and that large hand caught my wrist before I could land the hit. I gasped, "Jesus Christ! Lar'ja, what the hell?"

"No time, Baby Jess. Up." He pushed my gun and two spare clips into my hands, "They have released the kainde amedha. Luar'ke-de is outside where I will be soon. Basement is secure, but will go with you. Must stay there."

"_What_? I can totally help, dude!"

He shook his head with an aggravated growl, brow ridge lowered, "_No_. You must stay. Need to know that you are safe. Will simply be in the way if outside."

It was my turn to huff while I threw on jeans and a t-shirt, socks and tennis shoes, not caring at that moment if he knew I hadn't exactly been dressed, "Fine. Will my gun work on them?"

"May."

"Great…"

We made our way through the dark house and I could hear the sound of something on the roof. Lar'ja seemed to note my anxiety, "Is Luar'ke-de. Is keeping watch while I help you. The kainde amedha have not yet attacked, but is not much time. Do not stay still for long."

"The cats?" I asked while we walked down the stairs.

"Already in the basement."

"You're actually a pretty great guy, you know that?"

He chuckled, "Ah, maybe after this you will see how great…"

"Really, Lar'ja? Lecherous comments at a time like this?" I grinned.

"What better time?" He led me toward the farthest corner, then before I could say anything, swept me into his arms and held me with a contented purr, "Stay here. Stay safe. Use gun, but hope none come this far. Not warrior and would be in danger."

I frowned, "You'd better have another head to put on your wall later or I'm going to be really annoyed by this."

His purr turned growly and he pressed his forehead to mine, fingers gently tangled in the hair at the back of my head, "Count on it."

It seemed almost ridiculous: "_Survive."_ "_I will."_

Then he left, almost flying up the stairs, and closed the door behind him. I frowned again, not liking this at all. After the first five minutes, I began to hear the muffled sound of explosions and fighting. I paced. Why couldn't I be upstairs? This was _my_ home. Shouldn't I be allowed to defend it? I never said I'd stay down here in this hole with the eyes of the dead watching me, waiting for me to join their ranks. He had been unsure about my guns effectiveness against the candy amandas, though, but I was willing to give it a try. What else could I use, then?

Walking to the small utility room where the water heater was, I looked around for something I could convert into a weapon. Probably a bludgeon or something. If that worked, a bullet surely would and if not then it wouldn't matter anymore. I used to collect swords, but didn't have any of them anymore. Regardless, I retained the ability to swing a heavy metal object and those baseball bat-sized pipes in the corner from the plumbing project I never got around to had my name written _all_ over them. My .45 was stuffed in the waistband of my jeans and I hefted one of the pipes, testing its weight.

There was the sound of a crash upstairs and the shattering of glass. The screech of some horrible animal seemed to echo through the house and I decided then and there that I wouldn't, _couldn't_, wait in a hole for death. I was up the stairs and into the kitchen before I had a chance to think, "Hey, this is really stupid, isn't it? What the hell am I doing?"

The creature and I stared at each other (though it didn't have eyes…) and it hissed, the inner mouth snapping out at me. Thick drool dribbled to the floor and I wrinkled my nose in disgust, "Nasty, dude. Anyone ever tell you that you're one ugly motherfucker?"

It screamed at me, crouching, then lunged. It tried to take me in a rush, but I was ready for that. It just seemed like the stupid kind of thing someone who drooled a lot would do. I swung the pipe in an arch that would have made Babe Ruth jealous and caught the creature in the face. Bone gave in a sickening crunch and I grinned in grim satisfaction. Easier to swing than a shovel, that was for sure! It lay on the floor, making pitiful wounded animal sounds so I took out my gun and shot it in the head. It shuddered once, and then was still.

Then I realized something.

I just killed a candy amanda!

I was a Blooded Warrior!

Oh shit, that thing had friends…

I raised my gun and shot the alien crawling into my kitchen from where my bay window used to be. It screamed and thrashed, dripping acid blood on the linoleum. I adjusted my aim and caught it roughly in the same spot that I had shot the other one and down it went. I suddenly _loved_ my .45. I had bought armor-piercing rounds for giggles ("But, Ma! What if there's a bear some winter wearing a bullet-proof vest?") and now I was glad I'd gone ahead with the purchase (they told me I was crazy…). As long as I hit them in the right spot, it was pretty easy to bring these nasty dudes down. And that was two! _Two_! Lar'ja would be mad that I'd put myself at risk, but I hoped he'd be proud of me anyway. For some reason, that was very important to me.

I stood sentry, made sure the basement door was closed, and was appalled when four of those black bastards crawled into my kitchen. I shot the first, second, and third, but then the fourth was on me. It rocked me back and I had to drop the gun and use the pipe to keep it from biting my face off.

I caught it, off balance, and only sheer adrenaline gave me the strength to shove it away from me; gave me space and therefore _time_. It reared back screeching in fury, much taller than I and looking pretty damned impressive. Its tail whipped around and caught me in the chest and I went flying, my back hitting the wall painfully and I found myself pinned. I growled in pain and irritation, my knees bent, feet on its chest, trying to keep it from me. It screamed in my face and _drooled_ on me. And it smelled like a drain. Or at least its breath did. I did _not_ want to die this way. My arms and legs shook with the effort of keeping that thing from biting my face off, but I was slowly succumbing to its superior strength and weight.

Then it was suddenly gone. Lar'ja stood over me, ki'cti'pa at the ready. The black alien crashed into the white pine table, destroying it, and it thrashed around screaming angrily. I grabbed my gun and got back to my feet breathlessly while Lar'ja made use of the moment and dispatched the creature efficiently. Then he turned to me with an angry growl, "Supposed to wait downstairs!"

My jaw dropped in outrage, "This is my _home_, Lar'ja! I can't just hide!"

He huffed, tossing his dreadlocks in aggravation and clicking in his throat, "Do not like! Want you safe. _Not Hunter_. Explained this! Told you to stay!"

"I'm not your dog!" I yelled, glaring.

He snarled back behind his mask, "Mine to keep safe!"

Frustrated and angry, I decided to try to change the subject, "Are there more out there?"

"Do not know. Heard your gun and came to help. Glad I did. Foolish Baby Jess." He shook his head, "Almost died!"

"But I _didn't_ die." I said, frowning. I guess I hadn't proven myself after all.

"Not the point!" He roared, "Told you to stay! Promised you would! _Gave your word_!"

"They came in through the God-damned _window_! Do you think a basement door would stop them? And I don't belong to _you_!" I yelled back, He tossed his head angrily and took a step closer, hand curling into a fist as though he'd rather reach out and shake me.

"No arguing. Not tonight." Luar'ke-de said in admonishment standing right outside the ruined bay window, "Do not think there are more, but will keep watch. Foolish to make too many. More foolish to assume they would not risk anyway."

He stepped in through the window and looked at the dead aliens on the floor, then looked at me and tilted his head, clicking curiously. I frowned and demanded, "_What_?"

"You killed these?"

"All except that one," I said, pointing to the one Lar'ja had saved me from, "It was pretty easy, actually. Just aim and pull the trigger."

"Easy?" He came to look at the one nearest to me, the one I had hit with a pipe, then at the pipe itself which was now sorta bent. His attention returned to me and I could feel the intensity in spite of the mask he wore.

I frowned again, "Well it's not like it was a shovel, dude. Geeze."

* * *

Between the mess that needed to be cleaned up and everything I now had on my mind, there was no way I could go back to bed and get more sleep. Lar'ja and Luar'ke-de hauled the bodies out of the kitchen and helped me clean up, saying that I shouldn't touch the blood that was burning holes in my floor. Fair enough. Apparently, their blood neutralized the acid so they weren't as worried. Luar'ke-de had wanted to mark my forehead with the blood of the first alien I had killed, but I said no ("I saw what that stuff did to the floor! Hell fucking no!"), but he insisted saying that he would use a little of his own blood to neutralize the effects and I would be fine. To which I replied that I didn't want a symbol on my forehead that I wouldn't be able to hide from my fellow humans.

Throughout the argument and clean-up process, Lar'ja remained stoic and mostly silent. I knew he was brooding and that I would likely receive an ear-full later, but here he gave his two cents worth, "Take the mark elsewhere."

"You can do that?"

"Ooman, not Yautja. But Blooded now. Do what you want. Will anyway. Why not?" With that, he picked up some of the broken pieces of my table and walked out to drop them on the pile of alien bodies.

It felt like someone had just kicked me in the gut and I wanted to pick up a piece of wood and chuck it at the back of his head. My home was broken, my floor had burns in it from alien blood (fucking, God-damned _alien blood_!), my table was in pieces, and Lar'ja was mad at me when I hadn't done anything wrong. I sighed though it sounded more like a groan, and Luar'ke-de gave my shoulder a reassuring shake which surprised me.

In the end, I gave in, but had him put the mark on my left shoulder. That way, if anyone asked, I could say I just thought it'd look cool. I tried talking to Lar'ja, but he stuck to one or two word answers and basic gestures. By the time I had boarded my window up and removed the ruined linoleum to check for further damage to the floor, it was nine in the morning. Luar'ke-de had been shooting disapproving looks to Lar'ja who remained oblivious, but it had been a solid half hour since I'd last seen either of them. That, strangely enough, didn't make me feel any better. I had to get out.

Grabbing my messenger bag and my keys, I headed toward the door to the garage. I had just reached the door when I heard movement behind me.

"Where do you go?" Lar'ja asked quietly behind me.

I paused, hand on the door knob, and sighed. I wanted to be shitty. I wanted to hurt him because ever since the fight with those candy amandas, he'd been hurting me and I didn't even really know why, but I couldn't. What would that solve? I wasn't some silly little teen filed with angst anymore. I was an adult. I'd just killed five aliens and had a Yautja glyph burned into my shoulder. I sighed, "I need some replacement linoleum and I want to look into getting a new table."

His hand tentatively touched my right shoulder, but when I didn't move away, it became a solid, reassuring weight, "Am sorry about your home, Baby Jess. More kainde amedha than I had thought. Did well. Forgive. Wrong to be mad. Felt I had failed. Easier to be angry. Were right, Baby Jess. Should not have been angry."

For one moment, I thought about hanging on to my anger, but then the moment and my anger both slipped my grip. It felt like someone had pulled a weight off of my shoulders and I turned to face him. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me as close as possible, "You're an idiot, Lar'ja. You saved my life. How could you think you failed?"

"Got past me-"

"And Luar'ke-de who is older and more experienced than you, so what's the big deal?"

"Not the point. Swore to guard. Luar'ke-de did not."

"You saved my life and other than the God-damned, freaking burn on my shoulder, I don't have a mark on me." Unless you counted the bruises and lacerations on my chest and the bruises on my back… "I'd always wanted a knight in shiney armor to save me from the dragon and I finally got my wish! I just didn't know my knight would also be wearing fishnet. It's kinda kinky."

He chuckled at my lame attempt to inject humor into the conversation and shook his head slowly, "Not fishnet, Baby Jess. Not 'candy amanda' either. _Kainde amedha_. You can say this."

I smirked, "Can. Won't."

He huffed with a smirk of his own, "Go. Stay safe. Will patch the holes in the floor."

"Thanks. And hey, I made a call to a glass repair place. They said they'd be here sometime this afternoon to fix the window, so if they show up and I'm not back, don't kill them, please."

He pulled back and crossed his arms over his chest, face in severe lines that I knew from the twitch of his upper mandibles was total bullshit, "Need them alive?"

"Yup."

He frowned, then huffed with a toss of his head as though he were making a huge concession, "…Fine. Just once. Just for you, Baby Jess."

* * *

Lucky for me I remembered the dimensions of the kitchen and dining room from the last time I put down fake flooring. I thought I'd go with the wood floor design this time though and left the Home Depot with enough to spare, just in case (clawed feet…). I also bought quite a few speakers and some extenders to plug into my computer and a roll of electrical tape. Didn't I already _have_ speakers? Why yes, yes I did, but I had no intention of using my more expensive speakers only to watch them be destroyed.

And they would be. I'd see to it.

I grinned and the kid who took my money gave me a confused, slightly creeped out look. If Lar'ja thought I'd forgotten or had forgiven him for tossing me into the lake, he was sadly mistaken. Saving my life or no, I would have my revenge.

I was still grinning when I climbed into my 4x4. All I had to do was stop at American and I could go home! But though all was quiet, that didn't mean I didn't feel eyes on the back of my head wherever I went. I was almost twitchy by the time I pulled up in front of my house to find the pile of alien bodies gone and the guys who were going to fix my bay window just getting out of their truck. I glanced around and smiled. You couldn't tell there had been a battle of intergalactic proportions waged here at all, except for the window and my kitchen floor.

Life was good.

I got out of my car and grinned, "Hi there! Sorry if I made you wait. The biggest damned moose of my life decided he hated my dining room this morning!"

* * *

The window guys not only fixed the window in record time, but were kind enough to also lay the linoleum down for me. Sometimes it paid to be a single female on my own. They'd hardly finished when the guys from American showed up with my oak dinning set (stronger than the white pine had been) and a little (not so little) something extra. When the dust settled and the last well meaning, small-town gent had left, I took in the sight and smiled, satisfied. I'd killed aliens, got a new dining room, and Lar'ja still liked me. That last thought warmed my heart. With late sunlight streaming in on a warm April day, and speakers that I didn't mind seeing destroyed waiting in my car, I was about as happy as I could possibly be.

The sound of two, large alien males walking up the basement steps was music to my ears and I smiled when they entered the kitchen. Pouncer, the little sell out, was chilling out on Luar'ke-de's shoulder while the Arbitrator looked around carefully as though to make certain that everything was of the right quality before giving me a satisfied nod. Since marking me, he'd stopped looking at me as though he were curious how long I'd hold out or as though he wanted to know what I was. Made me feel less like an insect being studied and more like a person.

"You guys did great on the floor." I said, then grinned, "So where did you hide the bodies?"

Lar'ja, no longer in his armor, shook his head, "Did not hide. Dissolved."

"Wait… You _dissolved them_?"

Luar'ke-de snickered at the incredulity on my face and made his way to the living room but paused in the entryway, then looked at me. I smirked, "That belongs to you. I was starting to worry that you'd take the other one with you when you finally end up leaving here so I got you your own. It's a 'thank you', not a gift, for helping last night no matter what your reasons were."

His brow ridge went up and a grin of childish delight split his mandibles. He left to go tear the plastic off. Lar'ja looked curious and confused with both looks deepening when Luar'ke-de _cackled_ (I have no other word for it) from the other room.

"Lar'ja-thwei!" He called, "You may keep your silk! I have something_ better_!"

* * *

**I own nothing ^.^  
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**Happy Reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Lemon warning for this chapter. You have been warned. ^.^**

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Lar'ja wandered into the living room, amused. Luar'ke-de let him touch the black suede-covered chair, but only after a carefully worded request that ended with, "You cannot gloat if I do not know what you gloat _about_." and I watched from the entryway while they talked in their own language. I sighed (my two kept men…) and shook my head. The joys of plastic… _Their_ joy that is. I'd been so good, so careful for years, and now I'd be paying off a balance for quite some time. I needed more subbing jobs, is what I needed…

Ah well. I couldn't _not_ make the repairs and now I'd have a happy Arbitrator under my roof. Not that he was _un_happy, but I'd seen how quickly Yautja tempers could flare.

While Luar'ke-de settled with a content purr in his chair, Lar'ja tossed me a grin.

"What do _I_ get for last night?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes and smirked, "A thank you?"

Luar'ke-de snickered, "Doubtful."

Lar'ja's grin widened, "You can do better, Baby Jess."

I quirked a brow, "And here I thought you saved my life out of the goodness of your heart! Because you _swore_ to _protect_ me."

"Did," he agreed, "And did not."

"Hmm. Well, now I'm confused again. Care to explain?" I pulled out one of the new chairs and sat down, straddling it with my chest to the back, my arms resting casually along the top.

"Not obvious, Baby Jess? Said before; you are mine."

My eyebrows went up and Luar'ke-de snickered at my dumbfounded expression.

"Let me explain!" He said cheerfully and I knew it would be in the most humiliating way possible, "Yautja males hunt and fight for reasons, yes? Status, honor, recreation, and breeding rights. Lar'ja-thwei fought last night for the same reasons. Didn't have to, but he _did_. For _you_. Won. _And_ saved your life. Which could be taken as a male presenting a gift to a female for her favor. Must have noticed his interest, yes? And now you are Blooded! Worthy! Not the almost-pet you were! Has even shown you his trophies and told you their stories. Congratulations!"

I don't think I'd ever blushed so much in my life. It confirmed one thing for me though; Lar'ja had started to think of me as a possession; something to be claimed and owned. He tilted his head, clicking, and not at all ashamed to have his brother break his intentions down like that to me, nor was he _denying_ them either. I wasn't quite certain what to say. I don't think I'd have been quite so embarrassed if it had just been me and Lar'ja and I knew by the Arbitrator's grin that he knew this as well and was enjoying it. I scowled at Luar'ke-de and his grin widened.

"Luar'ke-de." I said.

"Yes?"

"You're a bastard."

He cackled and Lar'ja sighed, the sound stuttering past whatever made the clicking. Though he stayed standing tall, shoulders squared, something in his face looked very disappointed and I really hated Luar'ke-de at that moment. Standing, I walked into the living room and grabbed Lar'ja's hand, "C'mon. I think we seriously need to talk. And Luar'ke-de; you get to stay here and mind your own damn business for a while."

"Unfortunately, must get to my ship." He said, standing with a grin and a mischievous light in his eyes, "Do not mind me."

"Are you saying you only stayed long enough to cause trouble?" I glared.

He smirked, grabbing his mask from where it hung on his right hip, "Needed help. Both are too slow. See how you watch him and the scent of his musk grows whenever you enter the same room. Now you are Blooded and there is no excuse. Mate or do not, but at least stop lying to yourself."

"_Lying_-"

"Yes. Forget that I do not see as you do. Every time you look at Lar'ja-thwei your temperature increases and heart rate quickens. You _choose_ to ignore your own body. _Chose_ to ignore that he has been asking for you. Hide behind uncertainty and stubborn denial. Blooded and told bluntly, so now can no longer ignore."

Then he put his mask on and walked out the back door, ignoring me glaring at his back. I grumbled, "Well, I guess we can stay here after all…"

"Forgive, Baby Jess. Did not know what he had intended. Had tried to say it… nicer."

"You really tried to own me earlier, didn't you?"

He was silent a moment, then gave a slight nod, "But did not realize. Not really. Knew I wanted you safe. Knew I needed you near. Do not understand this attraction, but is undeniable. Did not think you would be Blooded. Wanted you no matter what."

"But... as a pet?" I shook my head, frowning, "I'm not an object to be owned."

His head tilted in consideration before giving it a slight shake, "No. Not pet. Not object. Probably... more as Living Honor. No, not pet. Adore you, Baby Jess. Much."

Oh, didn't _that_ just make me feel all kinds of better?

His hand tightened around mine then, reminding me that we were indeed still holding hands. I had expected, for one startled moment, to want to pull away; because he'd admitted to wanting to own me, but especially after Luar'ke-de's comment about lying to myself. If nothing else than to prove he was wrong (obstinate Jess…). But I didn't. Couldn't. I considered his words carefully, looked back on my time with Lar'ja, and I grudgingly agreed with him. I didn't believe in lying to myself. It wasn't exactly that I hadn't noticed _my_ reaction. I mean, how could you _not_ react to Lar'ja? But I had thought Lar'ja had just been making fun at the human's expense. It was wiser (easier) to brush it off as joking around. Apparently I was wrong. _Apparently_, he had been trying to get a human's attention. Blatantly.

I was an idiot.

"Is what he said true?"

He nodded, face carefully turned away, "Yes."

"And is what you said true? Do you really adore me?"

Again he nodded, "Not obvious?"

I looked out the window for a moment, "I didn't know. We're pretty different. I thought you were just teasing. Joking around."

He pulled me closer, gently, "Never about this. And are not so different…"

"Very different. I mean, look how much taller than me you are!" Ha ha ha, Jess. Seriously, shut up.

Grinning with a shake of his head, he leaned down and pressed his forehead to mine with a purr, his right hand cradling my left jaw, "Funny, Baby Jess. Think I care? Shorter. Slower. Weaker. Ooman. Think I care? You are Blooded. Intelligent. Clever. Creative. Caring. Brave. More important things. Strengths make up for weaknesses. Do you care? That I am Yautja? Hunter? Have killed your kind? Am blind? Does that matter?"

"No," I said quietly. My heart was racing. "I don't care about any of those things."

"Right. Not so different. Have something for you. Not a gift. Yours by right. A moment."

He walked out of the living room and toward his own bedroom, returning half a moment later with a necklace in his hand, "Your trophies, Baby Jess. Would have kept the skull of your first kill, but would have been difficult to piece the front together. The fang is in the middle; in a place of honor."

He handed it to me and I examined the five fangs dangling from the thin wire for a moment. They almost looked like high-carbon steel and were at such a high gloss that I was leery about touching them. The drool was gross and I could see why the Yautja hunted them. The fangs were dry, though; there was no drool on them.

I looked up at Lar'ja who sightlessly regarded me, waiting for a reaction, "Thank you, Lar'ja. I hadn't even thought about trophies. They weren't really kills to be proud of, though. Four of them I shot at a distance while they crawled into the kitchen damned near single file. Just point and pull the trigger. The first was with a _pipe_ for God's sake. Your first kill had been one of skill. I just got lucky."

He huffed and pulled me close, "Was tested at a set time, a set place, under specific conditions, after years of training. You were defending your home. Had no real training and possessed only a pipe, a gun, and determination. _Worthy_, Baby Jess. Proof. Undeniable. Are no object."

I smiled, somehow ridiculously pleased by his assessment, especially after how angry he had been with me at first, but I also remembered how relieved I had felt to see him standing there between me and the beast who had almost killed me. A certainty rose in me then and I didn't really know why. I didn't want to be a hunter. Didn't care for the lifestyle. I liked teaching and writing my books, but I very much wanted to be a part of this man's life for as long as he'd have me.

I tied the necklace around my neck, "I don't want you to protect me, Lar'ja. At least not unless you let _me_ protect _you_ as well."

He looked surprised, the clicks in his throat high and firing rapidly. His head tilted in thought, "You wish to be… What word? Partners? Yes. Want to be my hunt sister; my partner."

"Yup. That means you can't try to hide me away next time something happens."

"Could not anyway. Blooded now. Have status. I prefer."

Something was different. I didn't know what, really. I've stood in this room with him many times before. Noticed all the same things; the sunlight streaming in, the birds singing outside, the white walls, dark green carpet, watercolor artwork of forest scenes, even the lamps, small fountains, and bamboo plants on the coffee tables. It was all very much the _same_. Hell, even _I_ was still the same as yesterday for the most part, but something intangible was different. I was still me, but I was something else now as well and damned if I knew what the hell that was.

My sudden willingness to break free of my comfortable life of teaching and writing novels to go kill things with someone who could snap me in two with barely more than a thought felt stupid, ridiculous. Even two minutes ago I was denying my right to my trophies and the mark on my shoulder. Really, if Lar'ja hadn't been there, I'd be dead. Did that mean I had any real right to my new "Blooded" status? Lar'ja seemed to think so. Perhaps it was more a "self-awareness" that I hadn't noticed until Luar'ke-de used his Yautja "subtlety" to show me the way of things. Perhaps I was recognizing potential? Or maybe I would never really know.

"I think… I think I like it, too." I said slowly and looked up to see his mandibles pull in a grin he aimed down at me.

His hand tightened around mine, "Will need better weapons. And training. Your gun is good. Keep it."

I grinned, "Ooooo, does that mean I get a nifty mask?"

He laughed, one I hadn't heard yet. It was low; a sort of purring sound, and he grinned again, "Will see, Baby Jess. Must survive first. And who here is capable of providing armor, weapons and masks? Really, more important things to consider now."

I was about to ask, "Like what?" but he leaned down and nuzzled the side of my neck with a growl. Pulling me in tightly with his left arm around my waist, he cupped my jaw again, briefly, with his right hand, thumb brushing over my cheek, then moved his hand to slowly brush my cheek with the back of his fingers. His warm fingers then caressed over my jaw and slowly down the side of my neck. I shivered, breath hitching in my throat, heart racing. He purred and pulled back with a gentle, satisfied smile. Apparently, he was still thinking on the previous conversation and would not be distracted for long.

"Baby Jess… Honesty. Want you as more than just hunt sister. Want you as mate. Tell me you do not want the same. Tell me and will back off."

I was shivering and couldn't seem to stop. It was confusing. _He_ confused me. I hadn't wanted or needed a man in years. Now, suddenly, I was painfully aware of just how utterly _masculine_ he was; how warm and safe I felt with his arms around me, his broad shoulders, chiseled muscles, deep chest. Pulled close against him the way I was, I noticed the massive differences between us and though I was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, I suddenly felt completely feminine and vulnerable. And that was only after just a little touching! It was that day in the basement all over again. This kind of shit didn't happen to people in the real world! It just _didn't_! What was I supposed to do? I knew I cared about him, and he obviously cared about _me_ for some reason, but it called into strong question; what was it that I wanted? Truly? Not my body because I knew what _its_ vote was, but _me_. It had been a long time since I was last impressed by the men of this planet, but what about a man from a different one? One that was apparently willing to do whatever it took to keep me near him. True, I knew I wanted to stay in his life, but what did that mean long term? Or, more specifically, _right now_? And what if neither of us had long to live? That was a distinct possibility! And it was obvious that he wasn't talking about a night or even several nights and I wasn't about to fool myself otherwise. Not any more, anyway.

But not even a half an hour ago we were friends and only friends, yet I was now able to look back and recognize that we had been steadily progressing in this direction for some time. Still, it felt pretty damned sudden, so why was I now considering being his _mate_? I began to calm again and almost said "no, I'm not ready for that", but he lightly, slowly, scraped his claws up the side of my neck to just below my ear, purring all the while. His other arm pulled me tightly against him and I was able to feel the evidence of his need pressed against my abdomen through my clothing and his loincloth. I was not one of the Yautja. This should not be happening. This big, powerful male should not be viewing me as mate material. But he did. I could feel the evidence of it and knew that I, lowly human that I am, was the one his body was responding to.

I shivered again, eyes closed, "Unfair tactics, Lar'ja…"

He leaned down and chuckled into my hair in that low, purring sound, "A good hunter uses what tools he must, Baby Jess. Be my mate. Can make you happy. Can satisfy you. I know this."

He leaned in and I could smell his skin, hear him breathe. I touched his chest to keep some distance, needing space to think, but I felt his heart beat under my hand, beating faster than normal. I could see his pulse on the side of his neck, felt his hard length pressed against me, and my blood burned. I gave myself up to the moment, recklessly, and I stopped trying to think anymore. I moved in to him, hands sliding up his chest to rest on his shoulders, and bit gently where I saw his pulse on the side of his neck. He jerked slightly, left arm tightening around me convulsively, dragging me closer. A sound like the cross between a sigh and a groan escaped him and he tilted his head to give me better access, his right hand cradling the back of my head. My teeth grazed his skin and I felt him shudder under my hands. He purred loudly, his breathing quick and deep and I tentatively tasted his skin, my tongue tracing his pulse. It seemed I had made my choice. I only hoped I knew what I was getting into.

He growled low in his throat, "Cannot hurt me, Baby Jess. Ooman, not Yautja. Yautja mating is rough, violent. Exciting. Will try to be gentle, but do not do the same."

Thinking he was either joking or just trying to act tough, I bit down on his skin hard. He jerked again and made a rumbling sound that was neither growl nor purr, but a combination of the two. I dug my nails into his skin and raked them across his shoulders and down his back, expecting him to protest, but his hands convulsed on me, tugging me closer. Wrapping a couple of his dreads around my hands, I took hold and yanked his head back to expose his throat. When he made a very primitive sound that rumbled up from his chest to convey his need, I finally believed that he had been serious. He enjoyed rough handling, and though that had never been my style in the past, I couldn't deny that there was something impossibly alluring about having this large, powerful male at my mercy. Leaning down toward me, relaxed, distracted and unaware of my intentions, he was unprepared for when I pulled him forward with all of my strength, lowering my center of gravity to help me pull him off balance.

He made a sound of surprise and shifted mid-fall to land on his back, neatly avoiding me, his blank eyes wide with shock, but I didn't give him time to say anything. I straddled his waist, hands returning to his hair, and pulled his head back roughly. Again he made that hungry, guttural sound, but it turned into a roar when I bit down as hard as I could on the side of his neck just behind his jaw. I tasted blood and it seemed to tingle pleasantly in my mouth and down my throat, making me shiver. Intentionally, I tore at his skin to make the small, shallow cuts bigger, my eye teeth grinding into the small wounds and I was rewarded with another guttural sound from him. If this was what he wanted and I was truly going to be his mate, then I would do my best to meet his needs. His hands on my back jerked and I heard fabric tear. I bit a trail down his throat to his collar bone, leaving shallow teeth marks behind, and gave his hair one last, sharp tug. Growling loudly, he pushed me suddenly to my back and had my hands pinned with one hand while the other pushed the hem of my ruined shirt up to expose my mid-drift. Purring and growling, he leaned down and rubbed the side of his face against my skin, like a cat marking its territory, then flared his mandibles wide and pressed his face close. His tongue made one long, slow, wet, hot trail from the edge of my jeans to my bra and I couldn't seem to draw a full breath. When he lifted his head, it was to aim a wicked grin at me.

"Good start, Baby Jess." Releasing my hands, he tore the front of my shirt open from bottom to top as though it were tissue paper. I gaped at him, but he was too busy smoothing the palms of his hands down my sides to notice, "So soft. Delicate. Want to feel more."

Before I could protest, his claws shredded down the sides of my jeans. The fabric tore easily under his sharp talons and he casually pulled the pieces off of me. I was rather astonished that my undergarments had survived the removal of my shirt and jeans intact, but he aimed another dark grin at me and ran his fingers over the little remaining clothing that I wore. I realized that he had intentionally done that, for what reason I wasn't sure of, but one thing was clear; he had excellent control over those claws and he would never hurt me unless I asked it of him the way that he had asked me.

"Hey," I frowned and his grin widened, "I would have taken those off if that's what you wanted."

"Faster my way. But fine. Want this," he said, looming over me and snapping elastic with a lecherous chuckle, "intact, then should remove. Or I will. Your choice."

I frowned, "_I_ will, thanks."

He chuckled again and moved so that I could stand and remove what little remained of my clothing, including the tattered remains of my t-shirt. Before I could do anything else, though, he stopped me, hands placed lightly on my hips. Tilting his head, his hands began to wander, tracing the lines and planes of my body and I knew, judging by the mild look of concentration on his face, that he was "seeing" me. He paid attention to everything, even the smallest detail, found and paused over the cuts I'd received from the candy amanda's tail, but his warm hands brushed gently over my skin and when he finally angled his face up at me again, I was trembling with reaction.

The pads of his finger tips brushed lightly over my hips and he leaned forward to rub his check against my stomach, "Take it back, Baby Jess, what I said before. Not ugly. Beautiful. Small, but well made. Lovely in form."

I blushed and stared down at him. His hands gently squeezed my hips and I tried three times before being able to speak, "If you keep doing that, I won't be able to give you what you said you wanted."

He pulled me down to the carpet with another of those purring growls and crouched over me, his large, talon-tipped hands on either side of my head, "Will, Baby Jess. Won't be able to help it. Promise."

He pulled back then and slid his warm hands along the inside of my thighs slowly; a light caress that dried the inside of my mouth and set my heart racing. Pushing my legs apart, he leaned down and rubbed his cheek against the inside of my right thigh with a content purr, his claws lightly scraping the outside of my thighs, making me shiver and raising goosebumps. My eyes were wide and I watched, shocked, while he pulled his mandibles out of the way and leaned in to me to drag his hot, wet, tongue up my opening, ending with a flick to my clit. I jerked in reflex, making a strange choking sound in my throat that only encouraged him and made him grin wickedly at me again. I was nearly breathless and the world around me seemed to grind to a halt in my surprise; his tongue, exactly like a cat's, was barbed! I stared down my body at him, wide-eyed, and felt a fire start in my veins that quickly pooled and tightened me with growing need. I had never reacted this strongly this quickly to any man, but then again, Lar'ja wasn't just any man. He was a Hunter. A Warrior. A powerful being from an altogether different planet. And damned if he wasn't the sexiest, most exciting male I'd ever known. Getting comfortable, he leaned back in with a growling purr, hands gripping my hips firmly, and began stroking me with his barbed tongue. He took his time and caressed over every bit of me, purring all the while and the sound vibrated against my skin. I whimpered; the measured, languorous pace driving me slowly insane, but it felt so good that I never wanted him to stop.

I began to squirm, restless, wanting more. _Needing_ more. My body felt fevered, skin ultra sensitive as though all of the nerves had been laid bare. The friction of his tongue on my sensitive flesh became all consuming and I hadn't realized that I'd been moving my hips until he rumbled a low chuckle, hands smoothing over my skin, "Something you need, Baby Jess?"

I wasn't given the chance to respond. His tongue plunged and I cried out, muscles bunching. Tilting my head back, I closed my eyes while his searing hot tongue stroked and flicked, drawing sounds from me that I hadn't known I could make. My hips bucked, but he was able to limit the motion, strong hands an unyielding pressure. Legs moving restlessly, back arched, I gasped and whimpered helplessly. Reaching down, I grabbed the bony fringe on either side of his head to keep him where he was, not wanting him to stop and almost afraid that this was his strange sense of humor again. He growled loudly when my nails bit into the thin layer of skin there and he ground his tongue against my bud while his lower mandibles came forward and rubbed along my opening. Throughout all of this, he was supremely careful with his fangs and tusks, never touching me once with them, but I was oblivious to this. I cried out again and felt the pressure build, his tongue moving faster and faster over that one spot. I began begging, not ashamed at all, and when the pressure finally burst, I threw my head back and screamed. I was aware of his tongue gently, slowly nudging at me; just enough to keep the climax going for a while. Finally, it eased and faded away, leaving me sweaty and trying to catch my breath. He may have lacked a human mouth, but what he could do with what he did have had been amazing. Mind blowing.

Opening my eyes, it was to see Lar'ja crouched over me. His head was tilted, face pleased, and I knew he'd been listening to me try to regain control. His right fingers stroked down my side and while I watched, he fought and lost the battle against a grin. Leaning down, he nuzzled the right side of my neck, "Beautiful taste, Baby Jess. Glad you enjoyed. But not over yet. Not close."

His hot hands slid up my body to cup my breasts, his barbed tongue rasping slowly up the side of my neck. Gently, he proceeded to tug, squeeze, and roll my peaks, his claws grazing lightly over my skin and setting my blood to burn again. The attention was slow, thorough, his touch gentle but firm, demanding quietly that my body react. My back arched and my hands clenched while my core throbbed in renewed need. My skin felt fevered and tight, as though the attention he'd already paid me hadn't been nearly enough. Hands sliding slowly back down my body to my hips, he finally let go long enough to remove his loincloth and let it fall carelessly to one side. My mouth went dry again and I stared. I hadn't meant to. I fancied myself more sophisticated than that, but he was worth a stare or two. It wasn't that he was _long_, though he certainly was, but that he was _thick_. I'd never been with someone quite so well endowed before. Plus, there were a series bumps, ridges along the top of his shaft and I felt my heart stutter in my chest.

"Something you like, Baby Jess?"

I had to force my gaze up to his face. He was grinning at me and it was all dark pleasure, "You may just end up hurting me."

"Never. Is a poor hunter that accidentally hurts his mate."

He moved slowly, gracefully like some great cat, all the while with that hungry, pleased look on his face. My pulse thundered and I couldn't seem to draw a full breath. Positioning himself over me, his hard length poised at my opening, he bent his head to nuzzle the side of my neck with a purr. My hands were on his shoulders, fingers tracing old scars, and the attention seemed to please him even more. Really, I was just trying to calm myself a little, but it wasn't working all that well. He purred, trilling softly to me, and wrapped me up securely in his warm arms. His hips moved then, slowly, cautiously at first, and each rocking motion filled me that much more with his hot length. I was aware of each and every one of those ridges entering me, massaging me. I was shaking in his arms and it was obvious that had he been any bigger, he wouldn't have fit. As it was, I was grateful that he gave me a moment to acclimate once fully inside me. I could feel his heat, how he throbbed. His shoulders under my hands were tense and restless, but he continued purring to me, trilling, trusting me to tell him should there be a problem. My body adjusted quickly though, responding to his need, and I raised my head to nip at the side of his neck. He rumbled low in his throat and his hips snapped forward, his length with each of those ridges impaled me, filled me completely, and I gasped. Eyes wide, my back arched. Each one of those bumps had rubbed me in just the right spot, and with each strong thrust, it felt as though my skin were being replaced with fire.

He held on to me, his purring replaced by a low, steady growl, and he drove in to me slowly enough that I could feel each bump rub into me, stroke me, over and over, but quickly enough that it didn't take long before I was writhing under him. I moved my hips with his, seeking, _needing_, more and I nearly cried in frustration when he slowed. All of my nerve endings were inflamed, molten fire pooled low in me, but just when I thought I would have to beg, his hold on me tightened. The first hard thrust stole my breath, but readied me for the second. Growling and grunting against the side of my neck, he took me hard and fast, the power of his body astounding. I cried out, keening, moaning. My nails bit in to his flesh and encouraged him to go faster, harder. Friction was a dark spell that threatened to burn me to a cinder. My body tightened on him, needing him, and the first orgasm crashed over me, dragging me under the molten tide. I screamed while his body continued to surge over me, in me, and I bit down hard on his shoulder, ignoring the blood in my mouth that tingled and left me completely sensitized to him.

In that moment, I was completely his and the motions of his body in mine left no room for doubt. The more he moved, the more I needed. I pulled his dreads, bit, scratched, and he continued to give my body what it craved; a powerful male to dominate it completely, irrefutably, irrevocably. I felt the next orgasm build and it seemed to take forever. Lar'ja roared his own need against the side of my neck, body impossibly tense, muscles knotted. He grunted louder with each powerful thrust and I gave myself up to him and the moment completely. Climax burst over us in an effervescent rush that left me screaming, back arched, while he threw his head back and roared, spilling his hot seed inside me. The moment seemed to hang suspended, infinitely, before breaking like a soap bubble.

We lay in a tangled heap on the floor of my- our- living room, gasping from breath. He was careful not to place all of his weight on me, but he remained firmly on top of me, his body still seated deep in mine. His tongue, barbs completely down, made lazy, gentle passes over the side of my throat. My fingertips caressed the back of his neck, massaging lightly, and I smiled when he began purring loudly, his right thumb brushing my shoulder, seeking the new symbol etched there. My smile became a lazy grin.

"Will it be like that every time?"

He rumbled a chuckle, "Enjoyed, Baby Jess?"

I stretched slowly under him and he purred, nuzzling my throat, "Very much so, Lar'ja."

"Anything you want, Baby Jess. I swear this."

"Anything?"

"Mostly." He rose up on his hands, face angled down at me, "But must tell true."

I quirked a brow, "About...?"

His mandibles pulled in a wicked grin, "_Were_ curious, weren't you?"

I laughed and covered my eyes. Of all the crazy... Ugh. Grinning, I nodded, "Yes, I was curious."

He barked a laugh, "Knew it!"

"You're insane, you know that?"

"Yes." He said, pulling gently out of me. I was prepared for that, but not for being lifted up into his arms and carted off to the bedroom. He rumbled a laugh, "Baby Jess... Too good for the floor. Did you know this?"

My eyebrows were high when he lay me on my- our- bed, as though afraid to hurt me, "No. I hadn't known that, Lar'ja."

He joined me and pulled me close, tucking me in close under his chin with a satisfied purr, "Is true, Baby Jess. Very.

* * *

**So how was it? Hope it wasn't too over the top. Anywho, I own nothing. ^.^**

**Happy Reading!  
**


	11. Chapter 11

I stood in the bathroom, freshly showered and dressed, and stared at the bite on the side of my neck (a freaking bite!) with disbelief and incredulity, "I can't believe you bit me!"

He chuckled from the bedroom, still lounging in bed ("This bed is much bigger than mine, Baby Jess. Comfy!") and looking rather yummy all things considered, "Would never, Baby Jess. Must be imagining."

I choked on a laugh, "I am _not_ imagining this, Lar'ja! I have _puncture_ wounds in the shape of _your_ fangs on the side of my neck!"

"Said it did not hurt until your shower." He said, then added cheerfully, "If it did not hurt, did not happen! Must have slipped in shower. Clumsy Baby Jess…"

He laughed as though this were the funniest thing in the world and I scowled at him, trying really hard not to grin at his audacity, though I knew he couldn't see it, "It doesn't work that way, Lar'ja! It _did_ happen, I _didn't_ slip, and I am not _clumsy_. Why did you bite me? Is there blood on the bed? There should be…"

He just grinned and stretched on the bed, a low, satisfied clicking in his throat, and I am not ashamed to say that I stared. I mean, we _were_ mates now, right? What I _was_ ashamed at was the several _minutes_ of staring while he lay there posing and smirking. I finally realized what I was doing and blushed, "Don't change the subject!"

He laughed again, "Is good to find one's mate attractive, Baby Jess. No shame. Bit you because you are mine. Now others will know this. And no, no blood on bed."

I stared again but for a different reason this time, "I'm not sure whether to laugh or be angry that you branded me…"

"Brand? No, not… Well maybe a little. But why be angry? You are mine just as I am yours. Now all will know."

He climbed off the bed and walked over to me, pulling me against him with a soft purr and I looked up at him with my hands on either side of his waist, "We've talked about this. I'm not property."

Shaking his head he chuckled, "Is that it? No, Baby Jess. Not property, _mate_. Large difference! Do you regret?"

* * *

I didn't regret my decision at all, I found and had needed another shower because of it. I'd expected to, at least a little. After all, it wasn't just a decision to stay with Lar'ja and be his mate. It was a decision to leave my home, my sister, my mother, my _planet_ behind to tool around the galaxy (which I was actually pretty excited about) to hunt (which I was not) at the side of someone I've only known for a few months. But the more I thought about that, the more satisfied I became. A few months or a few years, it made no difference. I knew who and what he was and I was not at all ambivalent about my feelings regarding Lar'ja. I knew I felt a great deal of affection for him and knew it was reciprocated, but even if I didn't and it wasn't, I knew he would always do his best for me because he had given his word.

I didn't know a single human man that could boast the same.

If this was the Yautja version of marriage, I could live with it.

I stood staring out the bay window the next morning, drinking tea and checking out the newest bodies in the trees while trying very hard not to be amused. They had strung a line between two trees and hung three huge raccoons ("You are _all_ dead! You! You! _And_ the Arbitrator! Just like these raccoons!"). Maybe they were running out of deer? I snickered. It must be laundry day… Maybe someone had told them that if they hung all the raccoons from a tree, it'd look like Christmas. Seriously, _why_ raccoons? Did the mischievous little guys make off with something of theirs or something? I laughed into my mug and Lar'ja aimed a curious expression my way.

So I explained about the bodies. Then I had to explain what a raccoon was. Lar'ja gave a sage nod with a slight frown, "Little bastards deserve it."

I choked and spluttered on my tea, laughing and coughing, "_What_?"

He was silent for a moment, then shook his head, "Will not discuss, Baby Jess. Best left be."

Then he wandered into the living room and I was forced to try to hide my laughter. A raccoon had gotten the better of Lar'ja? I wanted desperately to hear that story. Maybe I could needle the info from him later. I could be persuasive, when I wanted to be anyway, and now that our mutual status had changed, I had even more leverage to work with. I grinned into my mug.

I came out of my musings to see that Luar'ke-de had returned. I had just turned my head to look at him when he turned to me with an angry growl after Lar'ja gave him a barely perceptible shake of his head, "_Well_?"

I looked at him with a quirked brow, "Well, what?"

"What is the matter with you?" He demanded, "I see you watch him! Is he not good enough for you? Would do anything for you! Explained this all yesterday!"

I was really confused and knew I was gaping at him but couldn't stop, "_Huh_?"

Luar'ke-de looked like he was going to blow a fuse. Lar'ja stood behind him and was grinning, clearly amused. I glared at him, not that he'd see it, and that just about did it for Luar'ke-de. He stormed into the dinning room and grabbed me by the front of my shirt, giving me a shake that rattled my teeth. I think he would have kept doing it, but Lar'ja gave a warning growl.

"You see? Even now Lar'ja-thwei thinks only of _you_!"

"You psychopath!" I glared up at Luar'ke-de, "You're out of your damned mind! _Get_ your damned hands off me!"

He growled again, glaring down at me, "Has told me that you _refused_ him! _You_, an _ooman_, refused _him_."

"Well then he's been fucking with the both of us because it's not true! You _maniac_."

He looked about ready to throttle me but Lar'ja was laughing and he'd just noticed the bite on my neck. That set off a whole new chain of events. Luar'ke-de chased after Lar'ja who ran out the back door. Their claws had pulled up bits of green carpet and I sighed. Here's me thinking they were housebroken. Oh well. Who would notice the carpet anyway? Or care, for that matter?

I stepped outside in time to watch Luar'ke-de wrangle Lar'ja to the ground and kneel on his back, "It is too bad you cannot see, Lar'ja-thwei! Your mate is here and is watching! Come, Mei-jadhi! Say hello to your mate so he may know you see him!"

"You really are a bastard, Luar'ke-de." I said conversationally.

"Ah, good enough." The Arbitrator said, unperturbed.

"Baby Jess! Would rather you did not see this!"

"Kinda brought it on yourself, didn't you?"

"But was funny!"

"Yes, Lar'ja-thwei." Luar'ke-de said, "And look at you now! Do not hear laughter! Why is that?"

Lar'ja struggled to displace Luar'ke-de but the Arbitrator was bigger and accustomed to hunting Yautja far more out of control than Lar'ja.

"You look like you could use some help, Lar'ja." I leaned against the railing, noticing I'd have to repaint it. Then again, that probably won't matter soon.

Luar'ke-de cackled, "What can you do, Mei-jadhi? You are ooman! Small and weak!"

I quirked a brow. I hadn't been offering to help but now I'd be damned if I didn't.

"Ahhh, no Baby Jess. Has happened before, though not in the past thirty years or so. Will grow bored… soon."

Luar'ke-de laughed again.

Resigned, I stepped down to the lawn and walked over to the two biggest kids I'd ever seen. The Arbitrator grinned wickedly, challenge in his eyes, but I just smirked. Kneeling, I bent down, pushed Lar'jas dreads out of the way and started nibbling his neck behind his jaw. Lar'ja stopped struggling a started purring. His eyes closed and he tilted his head to help me, his hands closing into fists in the vibrant green grass. I glanced up to see Luar'ke-de's face as scrunched up as possible which was an amusing sight what with the mandibles and all. Still, my efforts had the desired effect and the Arbitrator got off of Lar'jas back (my kung-fu is best), though Lar'ja didn't really seem to notice or care until I stopped.

Luar'ke-de shuddered, "Even knew what you were up to and it worked. Ugh."

I grinned, "Pretty squeamish aren't you? Especially after you went to all that trouble of letting me know what Lar'ja's intentions were."

He huffed, "Did not want to be _right there_ for it."

"Aww, poor Arbitrator."

"You stopped..." said Lar'ja, sounding cheated.

* * *

It wasn't until that evening, watching the news, that I found out about the disappearances. People vanishing, some turning up again headless, skinned and hanging from the trees. I'd wanted to blame the Arbitrator, but he claimed innocence ("Oomans are too easy. Boring. Why bother?"). Other people were found in strange places with holes in their chests as though something had forced its way out. The FBI were involved and the news lady was telling everyone to cooperate with them and to call some number if anyone saw anything out of the ordinary. I looked around (nope, two Yautja. Everything's normal) then back at the tv.

I hadn't known about it, even being out and about the last few days, but was somehow unsurprised. Those aliens we had fought had to have come from _somewhere_, after all. No wonder that kid at Home Depot thought I was creepy.

Lar'ja listened grimly and even Luar'ke-de had abandoned his mood swings in the wake of the reports. I huffed, "Well, it was only a matter of time before those bastards got tired of dangling dead animals around us."

"Were trying to intimidate you, Mei-jadhi. And misdirect. Have you look at one thing while they did another. Also why they sent the kainde amedha. If you had died, all good, but if not, you would spend all your time worried about more."

"They failed at the intimidation. The rest kinda worked, though. At least to an extent."

"Yes. Cannot continue." He looked at me with his hard, golden eyes.

"What do you have in mind?"

Lar'ja gave a bitter bark of a laugh, "What else, Baby Jess? _We_ hunt _them_. Said yourself once before."

I curled up next to Lar'ja on the couch and he pulled me close, almost as though he were wondering why I was a whole two inches away. I grinned, "_We_?"

He rotated his shoulders, then gave one firm nod, "Yes. You are Blooded. You will hunt."

My grin widened (Well halle-bloody-lujah), "With just my gun?"

"No," said the Arbitrator, "Mei-jadhi, you will not hunt with _just_ a gun. Have extras you may use. Will train you to use them. No time to make you proficient, but you will not injure yourself at least. If you can make use of a pipe and shovel when it counts, I have faith."

"Can't Lar'ja train me?"

"He is your mate. Would go easy on you."

"Do I get a mask?" I fidgeted, staring at him with a grin (c'mon! No whammies! No whammies!).

He smirked and nodded, "Yes, Mei-jadhi. Will let you use a mask."

I cheered and Lar'ja laughed at me but I didn't care. I was gonna get to wear one of those kick-ass masks! Sweet alien tech! Ever since Lar'ja had let me use his, I'd wanted one. I was only gonna get to borrow this one, but still… Lots of awesome! There was one thing I was curious about though.

"Why do you have extras?"

"Am an Arbitrator. Would be stupid not to have extra. But training first. Mask last."

* * *

I knew only pain. I lay on my back, staring up at the night sky. The moon was out, full and heavy on the horizon. I was covered in sweat, breathing hard, and had an eight foot tall alien glaring down at me. The porch light was on, bathing me in yellow light that I found more annoying than helpful at the moment and I was tired and had just had my ass handed to me on a platter.

"Get. Up."

"We've been at this for hours, Luar'ke-de."

"Silence!" He spat the word like a curse, "When I am training you, you will refer to me as 'Master'! Is this understood?"

I scoffed and he picked me up by the throat, dangling me high off the ground but only inches from his angry face. He snarled, growling low in his throat, "Do. You. Understand?"

I managed to get out a panicked and strangled "Yes!" while clawing at his hand and he dropped me. I gasped and rubbed my throat. What the hell did I get myself into this time? Lar'ja sat on the porch and listened intently, head tilted in a way that made me think he was seeing some mental image of what was happening. It always amazed me how quickly these guys adapted to their situations.

"Now. Pick the ki'cti'pa up and will start again."

I hastened to obey, not really wanting to know what he'd do otherwise. When I was ready, he gave a stern nod, then attacked. I ducked his jab and tried to stab him under his right arm, but he swung the point around and knocked the end aside.

It turned into a rather clumsy dance, but I held my own (for a little while, anyway) in spite of fatigue and the sweat running into my eyes (my kingdom for a shower…). Any time I'd end up on the grass, he would stand there, cool and calm, and tell me to "stand and ready". It was with a great deal of joy that I finally crawled into the shower. I hurt everywhere. I hadn't known it was going to be like this. But really, if I couldn't handle _this_ then how would I ever make it among the rest of the Yautja? And I was determined to make it, no matter how badly I was doing right now. I was starting to think that Lar'ja was the only boy scout among them (no matter how well they could string up raccoons).

"_How did I ever manage to hit you with that shovel?"_

"_I was not trying to attack you at the time, just pull you to your feet."_

"_So you're saying I got lucky."_

"_Very."_

I was proud of Lar'ja, though. It was obvious he'd wanted to step in and say "enough" a time or two, but he didn't. I was Blooded and so I was on my own for this one and he had trusted that I was equal to it. I preferred it that way, anyway. I'd spent so much time alone before Lar'ja had arrived that I became quite good at being self-sufficient. It was nice to be reminded that I could stand alone again when I needed to.

After my shower, I stepped back into my bedroom to see Lar'ja waiting for me in his black silk boxers, "He really went quite easy on you, Baby Jess."

Oh, that made me feel wonderful, "Well, I didn't exactly have the benefit of having a mother who trained me to fight from the moment I could walk, either."

"True. Are you good?" He tilted his head, clicking low in his throat. His tone was polite concern, but the look on his face said he clearly cared about the answer. I couldn't stop my smile (the big idiot…).

"Yeah. I'm good."

* * *

The next day dawned cold and rainy, but I was warm and dry in my office and I had found, incredibly, my own, personal, little ray of sunshine.

"Make it stop, Baby Jess!"

"_Hell_ no, dude!" I said with a grin.

Lar'ja banged on my office door again, "Said sorry about the lake! Besides, we are mates now! Am good to you! How could you?"

I cackled, sounding not unlike Luar'ke-de. My revenge had waited long enough, "I told you there were songs more annoying than Mr. Roboto! Did _you_ listen?"

"Have no choice _but _to listen, Baby Jess! Luar'ke-de left, it rains outside and it is still Spring so the rain is _cold_! And the music is everywhere! Loudly! Even in the basement and your garage! Please stop! Do not even know what a "banana phone" _is_! Or a "badgerbadgerbadger" or a "_gummy bear_". Have made your point!"

"Oh, but Lar'ja! There are _so_ many more songs I could play! Oooo! _Here's _one! Down by the baaaaay! Where the watermelons groooooow! Back to my hooooome, I dare not gooooo!"

"BABY JESS!"

I cackled again.

* * *

**Mei-jadhi: sister**

**I don't own anything ^.^  
**

**Happy Reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Small lemon in this one. More like a Dixi cup filled with lemonade, really. ^.^ Anywho, you have been warned.**

**

* * *

**

Luar'ke-de had been training me for a month and I believed that it was the hardest thing I'd ever done. He insisted that because I was a human female, smaller and weaker by nature, that was all the more reason to work on endurance. I would never be as strong as our enemies, so he decided to focus on other areas. Two miles. Running. In the sandy, cold water. I had thought that after the first night he trained me that I had been tired, but I hadn't known what "tired" was. Any time I slowed down when running, he'd hit me, sending me into the water ("Want to be warm? Then keep moving."). I'd learned not to bother getting angry with him because he saw it as insubordination and disrespect which led to a great deal of pain. It was also a waste of energy that I was in desperate need of. I was covered in bruises earned _just_ from the running. Those were the not-so-bad bruises. The really ugly ones were from the actual training itself.

I was forced to start applying Epsom salt compresses to my bruises each night before bed and I blessed Lar'ja's higher body temp. If it hadn't been for him being curled around me every night, I was sure I'd wake up impossibly stiff. He had taken to training himself elsewhere and Luar'ke-de hit me any time I'd ask where he was ("He will survive. Worry about you."). He'd also taken to hitting me if I "moved wrong" while training with the weapons ("Only those that move well survive.").

The last time I had really laughed had been a month previous when I had taken my revenge for the lake incident (Lar'ja had managed to find all the speakers). In spite of the cold rain, when Luar'ke-de had returned, he'd dragged me outside and had me run in the water. It was incredible that I hadn't gotten sick yet.

The pain was sharp and I hit the ground hard. I lay there for a moment, too hurt to move, but the knowledge that I would be in even more pain if I didn't get up got me going before I'd even heard the "stand and ready". I was breathing hard and was shakey, shoulders slouched against the hurt as Luar'ke-de watched on with dispassionate eyes. He looked at me coldly.

"Were not paying attention."

"No, Master."

"Why?"

"I have no reason good enough, Master."

"You will do better."

"Yes, Master."

"Prepare!"

Humility was the only way to keep him from hitting me, it seemed. And yet, I preferred it that way. If it was all fun and games, he wouldn't really be doing me any favors. This was, I knew, for _my_ benefit; to keep me alive so that I'd be able to traipse the cosmos at Lar'ja's side later. So I did as he commanded and prepared myself. We were not working with a weapon today; it was all hand to hand and I was learning by hurting. The Yautja, or so it seemed, were not big on lectures and theory. He did not show me the mechanics of a move. I was expected to find my own solution to each new problem fast enough to keep me on my feet. In one of our spars, it was always the first person to fall that lost.

I kept my eyes on him. I was done wasting energy today and he always seemed to have more to spare. Let _him_ waste energy. He seemed to read the decision in me and his golden eyes warmed a touch before fading back into the coldness of his expression. It was all the approval he ever gave me.

And this time it was all the warning I got.

I cannot convey what a terror it is to have an eight foot tall creature charge at you with a roar of pure fury. When I had been fighting the candy amandas in my kitchen, too much was happening for me to take a moment and be afraid. Now, I had just enough time to realize how very breakable I was when he was there in my space, aiming a low (for him) roundhouse at my head. I knew better than to try to bring my arm up and deflect unless I really wanted a broken arm, so as much as possible, I had to dodge. Had to keep moving. If he got a hit on me _at all_, I'd go sprawling in a lot of pain. Luar'ke-de did not pull his punches.

I also knew that hitting him was a useless expenditure of energy that I could ill afford. I simply wasn't strong enough to move his mass with a hit or kick. I had to work with my strengths; intelligence, creativity, determination. Even though this was hand to hand, arm wrestling was out. Period. I had to somehow lure a guy who made it a cherished hobby to take on the baddest dudes the cosmos had ever seen into making a mistake, and I was counting on him underestimating me. I had woken up this morning tired of getting new bruises. Now, I was determined to do something about it.

He kept me dancing around a bit, until sweat trickled down my face, before trying the roundhouse again. I went into a controlled side-shoulder roll and came up just in time to grab his descending foot in my hand. With all of my remaining strength, I stood and heaved at the same time, throwing him off balance. While he was still teetering in surprise, I dropped and swept his foot out from under him and sent him crashing in a startled heap.

For the first time, I had won. I had used leverage and his notions about me against him and it had paid off. I grinned in tired elation, knowing he wouldn't make that mistake again. But damned if I didn't savor my victory now.

He looked at me in shock before it slid away in favor of a smirk of approval, "Perhaps not so hopeless after all, Student."

I was so tired I had a headache, but it was a happy headache, "Thank you, Master. I have a good teacher."

He stood and noted the black, night sky. The porch light haloed him and when he turned back it was as though his golden eyes glowed though I new they didn't, "Believe that is all for today. Did well. Better than expected. Do not let it go to your head, though." He cautioned with a nasty smirk, "Now go greet your mate. He has been waiting. There is some to discuss before the night is through."

He turned and walked toward the house and I turned to the tree line that Luar'ke-de had indicated, seeing Lar'ja standing there with a grin, "Wish I could have seen his face, Baby Jess."

I snickered and walked (limped) over to him. He pulled me close and I melted against him, content, "He _did_ look really shocked."

He chuckled darkly, obviously happy about the notion, "Am proud of you, Baby Jess. Have made fast progress. Learn quick. Am pleased."

"Thanks, Lar'ja. Though I suspect it'll only get harder."

"True, but I have faith."

"How is _your_ training coming along?"

We made our way slowly to the house. He purred, keeping one hand on my back, "It goes well. Am acclimating to the modification made to my mask very well. It is a good day." Then he grinned down at me deviously, "Know how it could get better, though."

I couldn't help it, I laughed. I could hardly move and he wanted to get it on. Typical. Maybe I could talk him into going slow? I smirked, "We'll see."

"Ahhh, Baby Jess. You know you want."

I did, actually, but still… "Luar'ke-de said there were things we need to talk about. That comes first. Then… well, anything's possible."

He purred again and, bending down, swept me into his arms. He held me for a few moments and I eased into his warmth. If I could have purred, I would have. I had my arms around his neck and held onto him. His right hand pet the back of my head and my finger tips played at the back of his neck. I savored these moments. I didn't think I'd ever felt such closeness to anyone before, but since agreeing to be his mate, I found that I truly adored him. I had known I was very fond of him before, but this was different. This was _completeness_ and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sighing, I pulled away, brushing my fingertips along his jaw line, "We need to get inside."

"Yes. He gets angry when kept waiting."

"Yeah. I noticed that."

We made our way into the house, but I made everyone wait while I took a shower. There was simply _no way_ I was going to sit there for who knew how long after a day of sweating, bleeding, and rolling around on the ground. Clean, wearing my black, cotton sweatpants and tank top and feeling half-way human again, I rejoined everyone in the living room. Larja was sitting on the couch and pulled me onto his lap. I let his warmth soak into me, easing my aches. The Arbitrator was sitting in his chair, and waited for us to get settled before speaking.

"Know where they are," He said without preamble, "Has taken a while because they move their ship around constantly, but have found them and have been keeping track of their movements. Have waited until Mei-jadhi had progressed enough in her training and now that she has managed to win a spar, Believe it is time you both know."

"Do you know what they've been up to, exactly?" I asked.

He looked at me, golden eyes hard, "Do not. But based on evidence, believe I have a good idea. Appears that they are using your town as a place to breed kainde amedha. For what reason am unsure. Seems to be slow. Considering the rate at which a Queen lays eggs and how quiet your town remains, believe they destroy more eggs than keep. Wise, probably, but strange still. The kainde amedha answer to no one but the Queen. Can only guess since I have never seen such before."

"This is a mess." I said. He nodded.

"It is. But is not an impossible mess. Tomorrow, will start teaching you how to use our technology. Would not do to have you accidentally blow us up."

I grinned, excited, "The mask?"

He snorted, "And the wrist console. Yes. Will still be running tomorrow, though." He said with an evil, sadistic grin.

I sighed. Oh well, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

He stood and reached for his mask on his right hip, leering, "Suggest you get as much rest as you can. If Lar'ja-thwei will allow you rest tonight."

Lar'ja snickered and I looked at Luar'ke-de incredulously before sulking, "Surely you have better things to be doing right now."

"Indeed. Tomorrow."

With that, he left and Lar'ja's arms tightened around me. I felt an answering heat. Now that I was clean and warm, the prospect of being intimate with Lar'ja tonight had greater appeal. He purred and the vibrations rumbled lightly down my back and I felt my body coil in anticipation. He leaned his face in and his lower mandibles brushed the sides of my neck softly from behind, making me shiver. His hands lightly rubbed my arms and sides, careful of my bruises and I leaned back into his heavily muscled chest.

I'd been up since seven in the morning and it was now eleven thirty three at night, but I was wide awake under Lar'ja's wandering hands. His mandibles brushed my neck again and he purred, "Tell me you do not want, Baby Jess."

"I could, but it'd be a lie."

He chuckled and it was a very masculine sound. Pulling me close, one arm behind my back and the other under my knees, he stood and made his way to the bedroom, purring and trilling softly against my ear the whole way. Setting me down gently on the bed, he eased my clothing off of me, far more gentle this time than the first he'd ever undressed me, and refused to let me help. Climbing up onto the bed, his hands smoothed over my skin, the tips of his claws grazing my flesh and I shivered while he built the picture of me in his mind, a smile pulling his mandibles. He squeezed my breasts, thumbs brushing over their hardened peaks, rolling and tugging with his hot hands. He leaned down and drew a slow, wet, heated line from cleavage to just below my right ear with his cat-like tongue. My skin felt fevered and tight and I tilted my head to give him easier access. His hands left my breasts and moved to my waist, and then my hips, but his tongue swept up the underside of each breast in turn, licking and using his bottom mandibles to gently tug and massage each nipple. Damp heat pooled between my legs and my hands came up to gently cradle his head to me, not wanting him to stop. He rumbled a satisfied purr and his hands slid lower to gently squeeze my thighs, careful of my bruises.

His right hand slipped between my legs to cup me, his fingers sliding between my folds to rub along my opening and clit. I squirmed under him, making quiet whimpering sounds to convey my need and he responded with one of those hungry growls. His skilled fingers teased and played, urging my body to respond, and my back arched, head tilted back with a moan. With his hand bringing me closer and closer to the edge of climax, that incredible pressure building in me quickly, and the attention he was lavishing on my breasts, I felt my like a candle being swiftly, completely consumed. And I loved it, every bit of it, and never wanted him to stop.

Pleasure burst over me in a slick, hot rush and I cried out loudly, body surging under him. He held me securely, pulling his head back with a purr, finger nudging gently to keep me going just a little longer, giving me as much pleasure as he could. Finally the tide eased away and he held on to me, fingers softly petting the side of my neck and smoothing along my shoulder. I managed to finally open my eyes and look at him. His expression was pleased, content, but there was something definitely lecherous about it as well. I grinned and lifted my head to kiss his chin, "Dirty old man."

"Not old." He said, chuckling with a gentle push to my shoulder to get me to lay back on the pillow. He took his place between my legs and eased inside of me slowly, gradually so that I could feel each of the ridges along the top of his hot length. He rocked his hips and with each motion, I was filled with more of him until our bodies met. It felt amazing. His body temp was so much higher than mine that his hard length, filling me, throbbed with heat and stole my breath. I squirmed under him, whimpering, wanting him to go back to moving, needing that incredible friction, that fire, that only he could give me. Propped up on his hands, he grinned down at me, "Will prove."

And he did. Starting slowly at first, he swiftly built a rhythm that left me gasping and begging him not to stop. My nails dug into his back and that seemed to only excite him further. He growled, purred, and grunted his pleasure as he moved, faster and harder within me, my body firmly secured in his powerful arms. I ceased hurting and the world no longer had meaning. Everything came down to just the two of us and though he grunted and growled in increasing urgency, he waited. He held back his own pleasure and made certain of mine first, powering into me over and over until I was both consumed by heat and more alive than ever before. Surely something that felt so amazing had to be bad for me and would eventually kill me. Pleasure smashed into me, arching my back and making me scream. My body squeezed on his, and that was all it took to push him over the edge. He roared and his seed left him in a rush to fill me with heat.

It took a few moments afterward while we held onto each other, waiting for our hearts to slow, before I remembered how tired I was. It was a happy tired, though. I had won my first spar, I was going to get trained on how to operate alien tech, and I was in my lover's arms. Life was pretty good. I smiled, tired, fingers caressing the sides of his face and along his mandibles, "Mmm, you were completely right, Lar'ja."

"Ah, then I pleased, Baby Jess?"

"Absolutely."

"Good." His mandibles pulled into a smile and he pulled out of me, infinitely gentle, and moved to lay next to me. I curled closer to him, feeling his arms drag me closer in response and, exhausted as I was, it didn't take long before I fell asleep, safe and warm and listening to my mate's purring.

* * *

"Ok," I said, "This is way cool."

Holding the mask up but not letting it seal against my face, I switched between various types of visual settings, even night vision. How they could see anything but the heat vision, I didn't know and they weren't telling, but _I_ could see them and it was bloody, fucking _awesome_. I looked around my living room and saw the two cats watching on curiously as hot little ghosts. I could see their veins and their little hearts beating, but they were in detail. I could very clearly tell which cat was which.

I wanted a mask of my own. Cool to borrow, but I wanted ownership.

Luar'ke-de rolled his eyes, "Mask is connected to these packs by these tubes. Have changed this pack to give you the air _you_ breath, not what _we_ breath."

"Hey, cool. I hadn't thought of that. Will that complicate things when we eventually leave here?"

"Lar'ja-thwei has a device in his lungs that converts your air into what he needs. Am helping him design one that does the opposite for you so that there won't be any problems. Not a priority right now, though."

He helped me put on the modified pack, put on the mask, connect the tubes for the oxygen, and secure the wrist console to control it all. Then he walked me through the targeting system for the plasma caster and I started laughing. It felt good to laugh again after a month of hard work and hearing about death. And I couldn't seem to help it; this was too funny. I wondered why I hadn't noticed sooner, but I did now. Lar'ja and Luar'ke-de looked confused at my laughter, but I couldn't explain it to them. They wouldn't understand.

I had a frickin' laser beam attached to my head!

* * *

**Sorry. Couldn't seem to help myself.**

**Anyway, I own nothing. ^.^  
**

**Happy Reading!  
**


	13. Chapter 13

"Hey, Lar'ja." I said. My voice, strangely enough, came out perfectly clear in spite of still wearing the mask. He tilted his head curiously, his form bright in the mask's display.

"What, Baby Jess?"

"These things have audio, dude. Why did you need to commandeer my headphones? Couldn't you have just as easily used your masks own abilities?"

He shook his head, a sort of slow, rolling motion, "Sound feed was damaged. All else worked. They were thorough."

"Destroy your eyes and the sound on your mask, leave you for dead in the snow for an enemy to find. Yup, that sounds about right. Going to some rather big extremes right now though. Just to kill you, I mean."

Luar'ke-de shook his head, "They wish revenge on Lar'ja-thwei, true, but they also wish to kill as many as possible, Mei-jadhi. Do not know what their long term goal is, but for now… As much death as possible. Is reckless and irresponsible no matter how careful they are with the Queen and her eggs."

"Was the only one out of eight that understood honor. They have been working up to this for some time."

I stood in thought for a moment before sighing, "Damn. I'm really slowing you guys down, aren't I? This problem would be solved by now if you didn't have to wait around for me."

Lar'ja shook his head, aggravated clicking in his throat. I noted even Luar'ke-de shaking his head, though it was Lar'ja who spoke, "Ooman and Yautja technology do not mix well. Has taken time to work through the problems of my mask. Bad Bloods are mine and I will not go into a situation unprepared. Kainde amedha belong to you and Luar'ke-de. Better to wait until all are ready. We lure _them _into thinking we do not know what they do. When finally we are ready, they will be surprised."

"And by then the town will be destroyed and everyone will be dead." I sighed again, "_Damn_ it."

"Cetanu comes when he will, Mei-jadhi. Not when we will him."

"I guess." I said and started playing with the masks settings. I found that the mask could record and play back sounds and conversations and make it sound… not like a recording, "This is ridiculous. I've heard you _both_ use different voices perfectly well. _Why_ do you need this?"

"Not easy to mimic other voices." said Luar'ke-de. "Very annoying."

I grinned and, knowing I was gonna be in for it later, said, "_Lazy_…"

There was silence for a moment before Lar'ja shook his head, sending his beads glittering in the sunlight. Luar'ke-de grinned in sadistic delight.

"Ah! Congratulations, Mei-jadhi! You have just earned extra running tonight!"

Lar'ja sighed, muttering something in his own language, and Luar'ke-de shot him a look, "If you wish to make use of your mate's energy, you should council her to silence more often."

I grinned behind the mask. Good luck with that. Mom tried for years and finally gave up.

* * *

Four miles. I all but crawled back onto the beach in the gathering twilight, knowing I needed to stretch and not really wanting to bother. I had no doubt in my mind that had we been in full student-master roles at the time, he'd have mounted my still bleeding skull on his wall. And I'd still do it all over again. I suppressed a tired grin, fairly certain that he had the stones to make me run some more if he decided I wasn't properly contrite enough. That distance wasn't really all that bad… but in the shallow water over sand? My legs felt like they were going to fall off. He had hit me so many times, half of which hadn't even been deserved, that I was carrying enough lake water on me to make another lake.

He watched me with hard eyes, arms crossed over his chest, "So, what have you learned?"

(To wait until you're not around…?) "Even when we're not training, you are still the Master."

"And?"

I fought not to roll my eyes while keeping my head down in submission since he was very particular about that for some reason, "And any friendship we have is because you allow it, not because I deserve it."

Like he hadn't said so often enough between making me run and sending me head first into the cold water. Still, it could be worse. I wasn't bleeding, for example. He gave a firm nod, eyes hard, and brought out two ki'cti'pas, tossing one to me and indicating to move to the usual piece of lawn that we trained on. We weren't originally going to train at all or it would have been all day long. Maybe he just wanted to drive home the fact that he held all the power in this arrangement. Oh well, I probably needed the practice anyway.

We both got into position and Luar'ke-de barked, "Begin!"

* * *

The bedroom door banged open loudly and both Lar'ja and I jerked awake. Lar'ja was already halfway out of bed in reaction. I turned to see Luar'ke-de in the doorway, "Get up, both of you. Now. Mei-jadhi, have armor for you. Lar'ja, you will need to help her put it on. We leave once you are both ready."

He turned and left. Lar'ja got up and started toward his armor on its stand in the corner. I looked at the clock. Two in the morning. I'd only had three hours of sleep. Surely whatever it was could wait a few more hours? Lar'ja disabused me of that pretty quickly, though.

"Do not fall back to sleep, Baby Jess. Up. Now."

The speed with which he put his armor on was astounding. He was finished and out the door by the time I'd finally crawled out of bed and headed to the bathroom. He stood by the bed, waiting impatiently, when I came back out, pieces of armor arranged on the bed along with what appeared to be a shift suit that was my size, and my black sports bra and matching track shorts that I had worn as pajamas once upon a time.

"Please tell me I'll be wearing more than that."

"No. This is all you'll need. Shiftsuit first, Baby Jess."

I got into the fish netting with a little difficulty, but managed well enough. When it was as on as it was going to be, he handed me the sports bra and shorts to put on next, "Shouldn't these have gone on first?"

"No."

I rolled my eyes, "Do you think there will be time for coffee?"

"Even if there is, doubt highly that we'll be taking it. Luar'ke-de is the elder male. His word is law, so to speak. If he says we leave when you and I are ready, then that is when we leave."

"But what if I'm not ready without coffee?" I asked. Lar'ja gave a long-suffering sigh and I knew he was trying to be patient which I appreciated, "I'm sorry, It's just… I've only had three hours of sleep and I'm not so good on that little. Some caffeine right now would help a lot."

He was quiet while he helped me into the armor that was strangely, like the netting, my size. And it wasn't just the casual few pieces I'd seen Lar'ja wear now and then, this was, like Lar'ja wore now, full armor. My sized and obviously tailored to fit a female, "I thought Luar'ke-de said I was just going to borrow a few things. When did he manage to get me my own stuff?"

I noted the weapons on the bed. It wasn't all the weapons the boys carried; just the one's I had practiced with plus my gun and a couple extra clips. Lar'ja huffed, "What do you think you wear? Has spent much time on making his armor yours."

"You guys can do that?"

"Not all can, but he has all he needs in his ship."

"So he took the time to destroy his armor just so…" I trailed off. Lar'ja stayed silent and continued putting pieces on my frame. That was fine. He didn't need to say anything. I really was a bitch, wasn't I? "I think I owe him a really big apology…"

Lar'ja gave my hand a brief squeeze, "Did not know and were only joking. He knows this. Reason why you only ran and trained. Could have been much worse. Know from experience. There, Baby Jess. Place your weapons. Will be with Luar'ke-de."

"Sure."

He left and I was left to figure out where everything was supposed to go. Now I couldn't believe I had called the man lazy, even jokingly. He wasn't, I knew, but I had no idea he would go to all this trouble. I sighed. The wrist blades, or dah'kte, were a part of the armor and so were already in place. The ki'cti'pa was strapped to my lower back under the pack that would provide oxygen while I wore the mask. My gun went under my left arm in a modified holster, the short sword went diagonal across my back, the hilt over my right shoulder and easy to get to. There were two chakt-ra that hooked onto the belt at my waist on my left side along with a few shuriken. The net gun was strapped onto my right thigh and the harpoon was across my back next to the sword. All I was missing was the mask and plasma caster.

I looked at myself in the full length mirror, hardly recognizing myself in the awu'asa. I looked dangerous. I looked lethal. With the fang necklace around my neck and all the weapons, I looked fucking cool as hell, dude! It was surprising how little sound the armor made as I walked into the bathroom for a hair tie. Pulling my cinnamon hair back and leaving only my bangs to frame my face, I made my way toward the kitchen and, amazingly, the rich smell of coffee. The two guys stood waiting, my travel mug waiting for me on the counter and I knew I'd have to thank Lar'ja properly later.

They stopped their conversation when I walked in and Luar'ke-de looked me over. He checked the fit of the armor, the placement of the weapons, making slight adjustments all the while until he was satisfied. Pulling one of his small skull hair beads off one of his own dreadlocks, he put it on my ponytail at the base over the tie, then gave a firm nod of approval. I met his eye then, intending to apologize and thank him, but he reached out and shook my shoulder gently.

"Am not a Leader with many students. You are the first and only I have ever taught. Will not have my only student wearing ill-fitting armor. These are yours now. Wear them with honor and make your Master proud to call you his student."

Turning to my oak table, he picked up the plasma caster, then secured it on its mounting on my left shoulder. Then he handed me my mask and I noted the symbol etched onto the forehead. It was the same one as on my shoulder and I knew it was Luar'ke-de's personal mark. I met his eyes questioningly.

"Your mark is covered by your awu'asa. This is so that if other Yautja see you, they will know you to be Blooded and my mark will make them think twice before challenging you."

"Is your reputation that fearsome?"

Lar'ja answered, "Yes."

Lastly, he picked up the wrist console and handed it to me. I took it and was shocked to see, not Yautja glyphs, but the English alphabet, "How-?"

"Know many things, Mei-jadhi. Made it a priority to learn languages. Felt it important when younger. Had I known it would make hunting oomans boring, would not have bothered. All commands on your console are in your language. Do not want you blowing yourself up unless there is no other option."

I put it on, then looked back to Luar'ke-de, "Thank you. Seriously. For everything."

"If you think your training is over, you are mad." He said with a nasty grin, "Have much to learn yet. Survive this battle, and will teach you all."

* * *

I stood on the command of Luar'ke-de's ship in front of the sensor array, taking an occasional sip from my travel mug, my mask hanging on my right hip. He had yet to tell us what was going on, but that was fine. I was too busy looking around at everything. There was a layer of fog swirling around my feet, dense and opaque. The air was unpleasantly heavy to breath and smelled… off. If it got too bad, I'd have to put my mask on. I was glad now for Luar'ke-de's foresight.

The lighting was muted and everything was in utilitarian lines. I'd never seen so much tech before. The main screen showed we were rising swiftly above the trees but I felt nothing. I wished my 4x4 was as smooth a ride as this. Luar'ke-de and Lar'ja sat in front of the screen and talked in their own language. I caught a few words. Judging by what little I was able to hear, they were speaking about former mating conquests while laughing occasionally. Guy stuff. I tuned out, uninterested, and went exploring a bit.

I didn't know what anything was, but everything was neat and clean. I found what I could only describe as a work room. It was large and there was equipment that I had no name for. It was probably here that Luar'ke-de had made my armor. Another room was obviously the lavatory. A kitchen. A training room. The place was huge. The muted lighting was starting to bother my eyes. The soft white light seemingly sticking to every surface, clinging like an overly amorous date. The air and the fog… For as ridiculously awesome as it was to be standing inside an alien spacecraft, it was sort of an uncomfortable experience.

I headed back to the command in time to see us land outside a warehouse. I looked more closely, only vaguely recognizing it. Luar'ke-de caught my attention and I drained the last of my coffee, "They are here. They moved the Queen and are keeping her somewhere in this building. Is time to end this."

Lar'ja nodded, "Have looked forward to this."

I set my mug to the side on the floor and out of the way, then put my mask on, attaching the hoses and took a deep breath. Much better. Real air and caffeine buzzing through my system, I was as ready as could be. I gave him a brief nod, "Let's rock."

He grinned and I could have sworn I saw pride there before he donned his own mask.

We disembarked from the ship and I looked around with a chuckle. The parking lot. Luar'ke-de was a double parker. More than double, actually. The alien turned to me in question, so I pointed it out, "You're parked in the handicapped spots. All of them."

He looked, clicking in his throat, then turned back to me as though confused. I decided to yank his chain a bit more, "Only vehicles with one of those handicapped tags can park here. It's the law."

I shrugged as if to say "what can you do?" and he growled. Taking a look around, he put his fist through the passenger window of a minivan, took the handicapped tag off the rear view mirror, then stuck it on the outside of his ship. Turning to me briefly as though to ask "are you happy now?" he and Lar'ja led the way to the warehouse, leaving me to follow behind, grinning.

Luar'ke-de had us enter the warehouse from different points. I was given the rear entrance and as I entered, it didn't take long before evidence that he was right became apparent. The walls were covered in _something_ and the floor wasn't much better. I was fairly certain that there was more than just a few of these bastards running around. I wanted to know how the Bad Bloods managed this with only four to their number. I grabbed my ki'cti'pa and hit the mechanism to open the weapon. It never hurt to be ready. I stayed close to the wall (but not too close… ew) in a slight crouch.

Before separating, Luar'ke-de had reminded me to look up as well as around when walking around in here. It was good advice. The creature hissed at me and leapt. A month of learning to dodge or take a nasty hit served me well. I ducked and rolled out of the way, parrying the whip-like tail and going under and in with my spear, sending the tip through the creature's head. Jerking back, the candy amanda fell and I flicked the blood off my weapon before continuing on.

I seemed to be in some office area instead of the main warehouse itself. Kinda sucked. All these rooms and cubicles could hide damned near anything. I felt my blood race and I didn't think it was the caffeine. I had to force myself not to rush ahead. These guys were ambush predators and I had to be careful no matter how exciting this was. I _wrote_ about things like this. I'd never thought I'd actually get to _live_ it.

I heard a skittering to my left and went completely still. Everything was silent for a moment before I heard it again, closer. I eased down into a crouch and held my weapon at the ready. I couldn't see anything but the sound was almost on top of me. Shifting the hold on my spear, I waited but not for long. The creature leaped out from behind a blind corner with a roar, coming down on me in a violent rush and I stared in shock.

* * *

**The handicapped tag segment was a response to a challenge issued by Teddy-wabbitz (salute!), so if anyone is confused by its presence in this fic, that's why.**

**I own nothing ^.^  
**

**Happy Reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

I dodged the hammer, grateful that the woman wielding it seemed to have no idea what she was doing, "Hey!"

"Oh! You're human…" Her eyes looked a little crazy in my night vision. Her hair was mussed, business suit torn, and I didn't want to contemplate how she was getting by in those three inch heels. She seemed to deflate in front of me.

"Of course I'm human. I'm surprised anyone is still alive. How long have you been here?"

"How long? I don't… know. What day is it?" She gazed off into space, blinking slowly. I pulled her into an easily defensible alcove.

"Tuesday," I said, "Only a few hours old."

"Tues… Then I've been here for almost twenty four hours. Ever since those beasts brought that bitch in." He face twisted into hate before her shock swallowed the emotion. "Actually… You're dressed like them. Why is a human dressed like them?"

"I'm not with the Bad Bloods. I came here with two others. I'm here to help."

The woman started crying and shaking her head, "Noooo, no help for any of us. We're all dead. We couldn't get out. Everyone's dead but me. I'm dead, too."

"What's your name?"

"Evalyn." And back to shock again… Must have been hell here.

"Evalyn, I need you to tell me what happened. Can you do that?" I spoke slowly, hoping she'd be able to focus.

She nodded a little too rapidly, "It started as a normal Monday, but by half past nine, the electricity shut off. It happens sometimes, and we waited for the back up generator to kick on, but it never did and the regular power never came back. We sent some guys to fix it, but they disappeared. After an hour and a half, we were going to send people home, but the doors were all barred and people were missing. We tried to call 911, but nothing worked, not even our cell phones.

"Those four bastards started toying with us. Literally. They got the rest of us into a room and tried to make us choose who to feed to that big bitch of theirs. When we refused, _they_ chose. They took the youngest of us, a girl just finishing her first year in college, and we were forced to watch as she got torn apart. One of the men rushed the giants but they… they just laughed and… and… Oh God. They tore his spine out! They tore his spine out _barehanded_! Even his _skull_!" She covered her mouth as though about to be sick, shaking.

"What happened next?" I asked quietly. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

"There's a large conference room on the far end of the warehouse where they put her and these…fleshy green eggs. They gave the rest of us to the black things. That's where everyone is now. There were… things… that came out of those eggs. You… You have to help me." She shook, tears falling, and I had a really horrible feeling.

"Where are the four?"

"Upstairs." She said through her tears.

_Where Lar'ja and Luar'ke-de went._

I was livid. That anyone could do something like this appalled me. Switching the vision of my mask, I checked her chest cavity, hoping I was wrong, but I wasn't. I sighed, "Evalyn… I'm sorry. There's really not much I can do."

She cried harder, shaking her head, "You have to… Please."

"Evalyn, not even a doctor-"

"No! You wear their fangs! You carry weapons. _Please_…"

This was hurting my heart. She knew she was lost and wanted death on _her_ terms. I could respect that. I noted the cross she wore, "Are you Christian, Evalyn?"

She nodded, silent, eyes pleading.

I gave a nod. I wasn't the best Christian, but I tried. But Christian or no, she had the right to die in peace. I pulled her into a hug, the last embrace that of a human and not an alien horror, and she cried into my shoulder, clinging to me and shaking in fear and sorrow. In a quiet voice I said, "The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with his favor and give you peace."

"Thank you." She whispered, pulling away and closing her eyes.

I pulled my gun and aimed, voice soft with sadness, "Go with God."

The sound of my gun was loud and the wall behind her head was suddenly painted in heat. She fell like a marionette cut free of its strings. Holstering my gun, I sent the tip of my ki'cti'pa through her chest and into the creature there. I felt it jerk, then go still. With a tug, my weapon was free and I continued on, trying not to think on the fact that I'd just killed a human. I moved slowly, not sure what to expect now that I'd used my gun. Sound can do strange things in these warehouses and with so many variables… Well, who the hell knew?

The threat manifested itself only moments later in the form of two drones. One was crawling up the wall while the other attacked head on in a great arcing leap. I was torn between wishing these things were smarter than my mom's Chihuahua and grateful that they weren't. It impaled itself on the raised end of my spear, but it's momentum carried us in a roll. Its claws scratched my arms, but it was dead and I crouched on top of the body. I looked at the other one then as it got ready and, activating my plasma caster, I got a lock on it; its form surrounded by that reddish-orange triangle that was a part of my mask's targeting system. It shrieked at me and looked like it was getting ready to jump, but I fired before it had the chance and I watched the energy slam through the creature to great effect. It fell to the floor in an unmoving heap and I grinned.

That. Was. AWESOME!

Standing with a pleased smirk, I wrenched my spear free and continued on. I made a sweep of all the offices, the kitchen, bathrooms. I encountered a few of those small… crab-like things, but they were easy to deal with. I spared a moment to silently thank Luar'ke-de for being a thorough teacher. I don't think I could have done this without him. I hoped he and Lar'ja were doing well, but Luar'ke-de had been right before. They could handle themselves just fine. I needed to worry about me. After all, I didn't want to end up like poor Evalyn.

I came to a door and opened it cautiously to find the main warehouse. There were shelves of merchandise and large equipment here and there. It appeared to be _two_ warehouses separated by a wall and two large portals on either side of the wall with those emergency doors poised above them. Beyond those was the room Evalyn had mentioned; the one that housed the Queen and her clutch. _That_ was where I needed to go and wasn't particularly thrilled by the notion of taking on a creature that even Luar'ke-de spoke about in a tone of respect. I really wished I had someone at my back for this, but Lar'ja had once taken on a Queen and won. I could too.

Determined, I made my way in slowly, keeping my eyes moving, looking for something to kill. All was silent. I heard nothing from the upper levels in the office area, no alien hissing, no claws on surfaces, no roars or screams. Not even the ventilation system. It was eerily quiet. My heart raced, adrenaline flowing. I progressed further in and came upon a drone that was hiding behind a shelf, waiting for me. It screamed and I shot it with my plasma caster. I was still operating on only three hours of sleep after a grueling month of training. I needed to preserve my energy for dealing with the Queen as much as possible. Maybe I could lure her into a trap of some kind?

I paused at the large, dividing doors, crouched and watchful for a few moments. Nothing moved. I switched back to night vision. Still nothing. This new area was more open. There were no shelves, just tables and a few cubicles. Off to the right next to some docking doors was a cardboard compactor, but it was full. Nothing was hiding there and it was too small for anything less than one of the first stagers. Damned candy amandas.

It was obvious that they hadn't been here long. Only some of the walls were coated in that stuff (whatever it was) and there weren't very many of them, though admittedly, there were probably some in the upper office areas. Luar'ke-de's timing was superb, apparently. Catch them before they really take hold somewhere and get rid of them. I fought the urge to check on Lar'ja's position on my wrist comp. I knew he was better than good, but I wanted to know he was still safe. It was a distraction I didn't need. Frowning, I checked anyway, knowing that if I didn't I'd end up making some mistake.

He was in the uppermost level and moving slowly, cautiously. Good enough. Mind at ease, I moved into the next area, keeping close to the wall. I kept my eyes moving, looking for anything alive, while I made my way to the door on the other side of the room. Two warrior candy amandas crawled out of the door and hissed at me. They were still at a distance, but closed quickly. I got the first with a shot from my plasma caster, not about to take on two at the same time. The other one managed to wrench my ki'cti'pa from me so I pulled my short sword out. Crouching low, it hissed and lunged. I dodged, rolling under it's claws to come up behind it. It hissed again and shifted to catch me with its tail, but I was already in motion. I jumped on its back with a shout and it thrashed, screaming in rage, drool flying because it was whipping it head back and forth. I snarled and hung on tightly.

"Sorry, dude," I said down at it, clinging tightly with one hand, my sword at the ready in the other, "But I was trained by someone a _hell_ of a lot scarier than _you_!"

I growled as it whipped around and wondered for a brief minute what the hell I was doing here. Shoving the thought aside as frivolous when I could ill afford it, I sheathed my sword in its back with a shout while clinging to one of the tube-like extensions, feet hooked onto its dorsal ridges. It shriek in pain and anger, falling to its knees. Wrenching the sword free, I hopped off of its back, then took its head with my own roar. I stood for a moment over the body and shook from the adrenaline. If I survived, I was definitely coming back for this skull!

I heard a loud shriek of rage from the other room, caught a glimpse of something huge and black shifting inside, and tried to calm my racing heart. I cleaned my blade and put it back in its place over my shoulder, then grabbed my ki'cti'pa from where it lay. I considered it for a moment, then closed it and put it back in its place as well. I took stock of my weapons and wished for a flamethrower. Instead, I pulled my gun. I had eleven rounds left plus two clips of twelve. Combine that with the plasma caster, I'd be able to take out whoever was still alive, plus the eggs. I hoped.

She knew I was there. No point in stealth anymore. I walked cautiously to the door and glanced in. She watched me though she had no eyes, and snarled. I saw the people lining the walls, some alive, some dead, some unconscious. All were or had been hosts and all were covered thickly in some strange substance. There were a few drones around, hissing at me, and I shot two out of three of them. The last lunged at me and I dodged, dropping the gun and pulling my ki'cti'pa. It crouched low and hissed, then leaped for me again. Ducking low, I let it impale itself on my weapon, rolled to my back, and its momentum pulled it off again. I Sprang to my feet, but the creature was dead on the floor and the Queen screamed in rage. Flicking the weapon clean, I closed it and put it away, then picked up my gun from where it fell. Apologizing quickly, I shot each of the humans (all twenty of them) that were still alive, making sure that the alien larvae went with them. I followed that up by letting lose with the plasma caster on the eggs. All of them. The Queen's anger seemed to know no bounds; she thrashed and whipped her head from side to side. Good. Maybe if she was angry enough, she'd mess up when finally it came to her and myself.

She and I stared at each other and she snarled. I was not going to fool myself into thinking my cute little gun was going to work on her the way it did her children. I holstered the gun and got a fix on her reproductive part with the laser on my mask, then fired my plasma caster, destroying the egg sack and severing her from it.

She screamed in pain, thrashing and clawing the air with her four arms, tail whipping around so I had to keep dodging and couldn't get another shot in.

I had once asked Luar'ke-de if using a plasma caster on a Queen would work. He had replied, "Only if you want her angry."

Roaring in outrage, she turned to me, mouth set in a truly vicious grimace. He'd been right. My fight or flight reaction was kicking, heart pounding in my chest. I had just destroyed her children. There was only one thing left to do.

I ran.

I heard her come after me, shrieking. There was the sound of something large slamming into a wall several times before breaking through. She pursued me, each footfall echoing thunderously through the warehouse. She gained rapidly and I ran harder when sudden inspiration hit me. An idea! A _good_ one! I made for the nearest of the two doorways that separated the two different areas of the warehouse with the Queen shrieking and flinging tables aside in her pursuit of me, following in her blind rage.

My lungs burned. I was tired anyway and this wasn't helping, but damned if having a huge, angry alien chasing after you wasn't good incentive to keep going. I passed through the doorway and stopped, turning to face her, "Die, bitch!"

Just as she was passing under, I hit the manual emergency button. The door came crashing down across her back with such force that it shattered her frame and sent acid green blood splattering. And she was still alive. My God, what did it take? Alive and angry and in a great deal of pain. She fought against the door, trying to get up and the motors forcing it down whined, grinding and beginning to smoke. I unsheathed my sword and swung down at an angle under her crest. It took three hits, but the third severed her head from her pinned body. Gasping for air, I stared down at the head. It hadn't been some great epic battle like Lar'ja's had been, but still…

_Ding-dong, the bitch is dead!_

I grinned in pleased exhaustion. Thank God for doors. All my growing up years I'd heard "_Don't slam that door, young lady!_" Who knew that slamming a door would save my life? I'd killed a Queen. _I_ killed a _Queen_! Lar'ja would be so proud of me! That thought warmed my heart, pleasing me foolishly. The feeling welled up effervescently and I couldn't stop grinning. And what was more, maybe Luar'ke-de'd let me have a day off from running in honor of the occasion! Then again, probably not. Whatever. I'd killed a Queen! I was definitely keeping this one. Maybe there was something to this hunting gig after all.

I heard something behind me shift then and I'd just started turning when there was a sudden sharp pain at the back of my head.

Then everything went black.

* * *

**I took the warehouse in here from one I used to work at (including the killer doors. No joke). Cheating? Maybe. Does anyone really care? Nah.**

**I own nothing! ^.^  
**

**Happy Reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

The first thing I noticed was the headache. It wasn't the worst I'd ever felt, but that wasn't really saying much. It seemed to be accompanied by a loud, harsh roaring that made my ears ring. Opening my eyes cautiously, I found myself still in the warehouse on the side closest to the devastated alien hen house (eggs sunny-side up?). The thought of food made my stomach roll. I tried to move my hands, but they were bound above my head in metal bands. For that matter, I was standing up against the cement-block wall as well. And that _roaring_. I finally realized it was not coming from _inside_ my head, but rather a few feet to my left.

Luar'ke-de, scourge of Bad Bloods everywhere, was in a similar predicament to myself. He was currently engaged in an argument with one of the Bad Bloods, his mask was off as was my own, and his mandibles were flared angrily. He kept jerking on the bands around his wrists and I was waiting for them to give, but they never did. Too bad. Would have been fun watching these bastards get what was coming to them.

I looked around at the ruin of the room and had to smirk. I have quite the talent for pissing people off, don't I? It was probably going to get me into a hell of a lot of trouble before all was said and done. And I had every intention of getting into just about as much trouble as possible. I was angry. _Seething_. And that always made me sorta stupid. Looking around again, I noted that only three of the four bad guys were present and accounted for. Two of them were done in dark blue, one slightly darker than the other, but the one arguing with Luar'ke-de was all rust and cream with brown patterning like that of a tiger shark. It was too bad they were all bastards because they really were pleasant to look at.

Lar'ja, like the last bad guy, wasn't here and though that could mean any number of things, I hoped it meant that the bad guy was dead and Lar'ja was coming to the rescue before I ended up saying something I would likely not live long enough to regret. Finally, I couldn't take the useless roaring anymore, "SHUT. UP! _Jesus __**Christ**_! _Honestly_!"

The room went dead silent and everyone stared at me. The three Bad Bloods were inscrutable behind their masks, but Luar'ke-de glared. I don't think it was _at_ me necessarily, but I could well imagine that everything about this situation would piss him off. The Bad Blood stalked closer and put his face right in mine. I glared back.

"You know, even through the mask I can tell you're one ugly mother fucker. Please back off; it might be catching."

Pain blossomed on the right side of my face and I tasted blood. The bastard had backhanded me almost casually, then grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked my head back, "Should not speak so to your betters. _Ooman_."

I glared and spat the blood onto his mask. He growled and I simpered, "You know, you're right. Sorry about that, Luar'ke-de. I'll try to mind my tone from now on."

"Do not think," said the Bad Blood, "that being trained by an Arbitrator and taken as the mate of a Hunter makes you special or even equal to me."

"You're right," I snarled back, "I'm much better than you."

He backhanded me again and snarled, "Just an ooman. You are _nothing_. Do not know why even an ooman sympathizer like Lar'ja-thwei would bother with you, let alone _mate_ with you. Must be sicker than I thought."

I grinned slowly, seeing red, my hands shaking with rage. He dared? Insult me. Insult my people. Insult my Teacher. But _do not insult my mate_, "Ohhh, I see what this is about now. You're _jealous_ of Lar'ja."

He jerked back and demanded incredulously, "_Jealous_? Of _Lar'ja-thwei_?"

I nodded slowly, ignoring Luar'ke-de shaking his head in a very deliberate "no" in my peripheral vision. My teeth were bared in a grin that might have been a snarl, "Yes. He's a better hunter than you. Better warrior. Has more honor, and can get any female he wants no matter what species. But _you_ are a small, weak, cowardly little no-one, grasping for power and meaning from the shadows. No wonder you're angry with me. Did I kill the only bitch willing to let you near her? Is that it? I was wondering why the drones were so stupid. Now I know!"

He roared in rage, sending his fist into my gut. I felt more than heard ribs break and gasped from the pain. The other two had run forward to restrain him, but he thrashed in their hold. Whatever was happening, they wanted me alive. Perfect. The bastard that hit me threw one of his pals into the cement wall with a sickening _crunch_. Neon green stained the wall where he slid to the floor in a heap that didn't move. It would seem that no one was safe from this guy.

The last one backed off, one little human not worth his life, but I'd gotten what I wanted. One less bad guy in the room. Not the one I'd _wanted_ to see die, but I'd take what I could get. I kept my eyes on the loose canon in front of me, but could see Luar'ke-de watch me incredulously. And perhaps with a little respect.

"You killed the Queen? Truly?" he said quietly while the bad guys argued.

I glanced to him and gave a brief nod. Between the pain and me trying to make lemonade from some really damned sour lemons, I didn't have much left to spare. Apparently, the quiet admittance was the right response because he gave me a firm, proud nod and turned to watch our captors.

"Which is which?" I asked.

"The one you angered is Ka'vin'tek. The other that stands with him is Mah'te. The dead one is Yr'yin."

"And Ve'rin?"

"Wherever he is, Lar'ja-thwei is as well."

"I hope Lar'ja feeds him his own damned intestines."

Luar'ke-de tossed me a grin, "Is unfortunate that you were born ooman. Would have made a fine Yautja."

I smiled, "But then I wouldn't be Lar'ja's mate."

"I admit, was surprised by his obvious attraction. Once had quite the appetite for the females of our kind. But then I met you. You _and_ that _shovel_." He huffed in something that might have been humor.

I grinned weakly, the pain forcing me to take shallow breaths, "No, it was your _head_ that met the shovel."

He chuckled quietly.

There was a dragging sound from the far left side where the other door stood open and clear. Luar'ke-de and I both turned to watch Lar'ja walk through, dragging a dead Ve'rin by his dreadlocks. It took a moment for Ka'vin'tek and Mah'te to register the new presence. When everything was silent once more, Lar'ja let the body drop and stood tall, proud. Ka'vin'tek looked first to the corpse, then to Lar'ja. He tilted his head.

"Had thought you to be blind forever, Lar'ja-thwei. Tell me, were you so recovered, why did you stay with the ooman?"

At first I was surprised he would bother speaking in English, but then it became apparent that he wanted me to know he was insulting me. I rolled my eyes. Lar'ja shook his head, "Owed a debt. Is something you will never understand. Will not waste effort explaining."

"Perhaps, but did your debt include _mating_ with the animal?" Mah'te asked, laughing.

"Is no affair of yours."

They began circling him slowly, leaving room for maneuvering. I wanted to tell him that he only had the two to worry about, but it could wait. They thought he had his eyes and he had not disabused them of the notion. I wasn't about to ruin this for him.

"Such loyalty," said Ka'vin'tek, "Yet you do not greet her, your own mate, when she stands right here. Come, ooman! Say something to your Yautja lover! He won't even _look_ at you! Maybe he does not care for you after all?"

"Just because he's jealous of you, Lar'ja, is no reason to go easy on him. Give 'im hell." I called. Lar'ja gave a firm nod, but kept his attention on the two circling Bad Bloods.

Ka'vin'tek roared at me, "Am _not_ JEALOUS!"

He started to run at me, wrist blades leaving their housing, but Lar'ja drew his ki'cti'pa and leapt in his path, Mah'te close behind. There was a flash of sparks when the two weapons met and then Mah'te was there with his short sword. Lar'ja jerked the wrist blades away, spun his spear around and ducked the sword that had been aimed at his throat. It quickly became a complicated dance and it was very clear to me that up until this point I had been very, very lucky. Lar'ja's spear was little more than a blur that managed to always repel the attacks of the other two.

Mah'te growled in frustration and tried to sweep Lar'ja's feet from under him but took the blunt edge of the spear upside his head, knocking him aside, dazed. Ka'vin'tek roared, enraged, and rushed into Lar'ja's space, but Lar'ja kicked high, catching Ka'vin'tek in the jaw and knocking his mask askew. Mah'te, seeing what he believed was an opening, tried to take Lar'ja's back in a rush, arms wide. It didn't work. Lar'ja swept the other warrior's feet out from under him, then brought the tip of his spear down on Mah'te's chest. Pulling it free, he turned back to Ka'vin'tek.

"Is this worth it?" Lar'ja asked.

"One could ask you the same, Lar'ja-thwei." he snarled, fixing his mask.

"Am content. Truly, the day the seven of you betrayed me was the greatest of my life. Now I have my mate and I have no need of any other."

"She. Is. OOMAN!"

"She is. Is also worthy. Honorable. Has killed a Queen and had heard much of the battle from where I was. She is strong and loyal. All things I could never have said about any of you. Was betrayed. Now have love. It is worth it."

My jaw dropped and even Luar'ke-de's eyes bugged, mandibles slightly spread in shock. We silently exchanged a look, then looked back.

"You are _sick_! _Love_? For an _ooman_? Madness! When I have killed you, will tear her heart from her chest and eat it, still beating, in front of her dimming eyes!" Ka'vin'tek shrieked.

"You will not."

Enraged, Ka'vin'tek charged, screaming something guttural. He must have been beyond angry. His attacks were rushed and, even to me, looked sloppy. More than once I heard Luar'ke-de snort in either humor or disgust. It was no surprise to me when Lar'ja swept his feet from under him and pinned him to the floor with his ki'cti'pa like a fly pinned to a board. Ka'vin'tek roared in pain and spat curses and insults in his own language. Lar'ja stepped on his hand and the pinned warrior snarled. Crouching down and reaching forward, Lar'ja unhooked the tubes connected to Ka'vin'teks' mask, pulling it from his face and tossing it aside. Then, he removed his own mask and let Ka'vin'tek stare into his blank eyes.

The Bad Blood went still, eyes wide when he realized that Lar'ja, very much as blind as had been thought to be, had killed all but one of them. Lar'ja waited for a full moment before shoving his wrist blades up under Ka'vin'tek's jaw. Pulling his blades free, he stood and hung his mask on his right hip, then retrieved his spear. Flicking it free of blood, he hit the mechanism to close the weapon and placed it back where it belonged.

"Very quiet, Baby Jess."

"What do you want me to say?" I grinned, tired. Now that the action was over, it was more than just my ribs that hurt.

He walked over to me, grinning, and lightly stroked my cheek. Every line in his face told me just how pleased he was at the moment. He pretended to give my question thought before grinning again, "Something sarcastic would be nice. Yes. Do not hear enough sarcasm from you."

I rolled my eyes, "Aren't you the funniest guy ever? Get my hands free and I'll be as sarcastic as you could hope for."

"Oh, and don't mind _me_." Luar'ke-de said with an irritated scowl, "Am only the elder male. But do not worry. I'll just _wait_ here, yes?"

Lar'ja tossed him a cocky grin, "Do so."

It took a good ten minutes for Lar'ja to free us, partly because the bonds were made of something called dlex and it took Luar'ke-de describing the location of the lock mechanism in relation to our two very different heights. Once free, Luar'ke-de cuffed Lar'ja upside the head and wandered off. To where, I had no idea. Lar'ja tried to sweep me into a strong hug but thankfully ceased at my cry of pain.

"Baby Jess?" he asked, concerned.

I grimaced with a groan, "Just a couple broken ribs. No big deal."

He tilted his head, clicking, then went over to Ka'vin'tek's body and bent down. Taking a knife out, he cut into the flesh just under his chest, then reached in with both hands and the knife only to come back out with the heart. I was more than a little confused, and positively disgusted, when Lar'ja brought it back and told me to eat it.

"You want me to do _what_ now?"

"Eat it, Baby Jess. Will help you heal. Will live as long as I."

"But it's a _heart_." I felt ill.

"Yes? You will make better use of it than he did. Besides. Fitting. Threatened to eat your heart. You eat his."

I wrinkled my nose, taking it gingerly, "Can't I cook it first at least?"

The look on his face said clearly he thought I was crazy, "No."

"Damn."

I spent five minutes working up the nerve and ignoring Lar'ja's taunts before I finally, hesitantly, took a bite. It was chewy and tough, springy, and very, very bloody. It was so gross. I shuddered in revulsion. I only ever ate my meat well-done. Now, not only was this uncooked, but it had belonged to a _person_. A bad person to be sure, but still. I never wanted to do this again. Stranger still was the weird tingling that started up five minutes into the ordeal ("Are you sure this is supposed to happen?"). And Lar'ja acted as though he'd never been exposed to anything quite so amusing.

"Not so bad, Baby Jess." he snickered.

I sat down on the floor, back against the wall, and forced myself to lick my fingers clean. What was a little more blood, after all? "You're crazy, Lar'ja. Absolutely certifiable."

He sat next to me, and gently pulled me against the warm comfort of his side, "Probably. But still care."

I leaned in to him, already in less pain than before, and let my head rest against him, "Do I get to hang the Queen skull when we're in space?"

He chuckled and pet my hair, "Yes, Baby Jess. Very important."

I yawned behind a hand, "I'm pretty damned tired."

"Sleep then, Baby Jess. Will wake you should there be a need."

I let my eyes close and listened to him purr, "Hey, Lar'ja?"

"Yes, Baby Jess?"

"I love you too." I said, then added affectionately, "You big, green idiot."

Then I fell asleep to the sound of humor and purring.

* * *

My eyes snapped open and I knew instantly that something was wrong. I stared up at a white ceiling in a white room. I was strapped down to a table dressed in white clothing that resembled scrubs. It was like being trapped inside a snowball. I had _no idea_ where I was. The pain I had fallen asleep with was gone like it had never happened. I no longer felt the weight of the fang necklace. Didn't feel the strain of the ordeal or the warmth of Lar'ja at my side. I was confused and starting to panic. What had happened? _Where was I_?

The room's only door opened and a blond woman (nurse…) walked in with a fake smile that never touched her brown eyes, "Well, Ms. Michells. How are we today?"

I didn't like her, and not just because she was speaking to me as though I were five years old. I frowned, "Confused. Would you care to explain why I'm strapped to a table?"

"Because every time we let you up, you become violent." She said negligently, checking my pulse.

"Gee, I can't imagine _why_. Though I'm curious; just how long have I been here?"

"Three years, Ms. Michells. I'll let the doctor know you're awake."

With that, the unpleasant woman left. A few minutes passed before a man roughly twice my age breezed in, fake cheer all over his face, "Ah, Ms. Michells. Nice to see you awake. How are we today?"

"Confused, frustrated, annoyed, and I need to use the bathroom." I glared.

He laughed and I hated him, "Well, let's see if we can't take care of some of that, hmm?"

He stepped out and two big _dudes_ walked in (bodyguard nurses…) and unlocked my bonds. They escorted me to the bathroom but I was not allowed to close the door, then escorted me back to my cell. I had no idea what was going on. Three years? Impossible! _Where_ was Lar'ja? How did this happen? I felt inexplicably lost and more than a little hurt and lonely. I wanted his comforting presence, but I was stuck with cold, fake people who didn't really want to talk to me.

The doctor smiled when I walked back in to the room, and I just stood there, looking at him, waiting for him to show me something real, "Ms. Michells, you must be very distressed. Your sister is here right now though. She could probably tell you what's going on better than I."

Better than a doctor? I was having trouble with this, but nodded, "Please."

"Excellent. I'll have her sent in."

Again I was left alone, this time for almost a full ten minutes. My heart race. My anxiety slowly built. I wanted out. I wanted to leave. I needed to find Lar'ja. I wrapped my arms around myself and shuddered in growing misery. When had I started _needing_ him so very badly? I knew I loved him. What else could that feeling of completeness and quiet joy be any time he was around? But this utter dependence… I hoped, for his sake, that he wasn't as lost as I was at the moment (though my heart didn't wish that at all).

The door opened and in walked my sister. She was roughly an inch shorter than myself with blue eyes and ginger hair, but there were a few more lines on her face than the last time I'd seen her. More than just a year could account for. She pulled me into a hug and I hesitantly returned it, "Savanna… What's going on? Why am I here? _Where_ is here?"

"Baby, you had a nervous break down. You're at Mendota-"

"I'm in _Madison_? You put me in the psych ward in bloody fucking _Madison_?"

"Jessie, you'd completely lost it. Ranting about aliens and such…"

"I'm _about_ to lose it…"

"Jess, You'd lost your mind. Seriously."

"Does Mom know about this, Savanna?"

She winced, "Baby… Mom _died_ three years ago. Just before you snapped."

I felt my stomach drop and I stared at my sister in shock. She looked at me pityingly, as though she'd been forced to say these things many times. I was crazy? Then… none of it happened? I couldn't believe it. I just _couldn't_! I _knew_ I wasn't crazy. I _knew_ it! Tears of mounting rage filled my eyes. I had to get the hell out of here. I had to find Lar'ja. I needed to know where he was. Needed to know if he was alright. Needed to know that he wasn't as trapped as I was. And if he _was_, where was he being held? The thought of him being cut up for science twisted my stomach, froze my heart with anger, and I looked to the door, "Lar'ja..."

She shook her head, eyes closed, then hugged me and whispered, "He doesn't exist, Baby. He never did."

I trembled, angrier than I'd ever been before, my breath coming fast, tears falling. It must have looked as though I were supremely upset or something because my sister pulled back to look at me with compassionate eyes. I only had the barest moment to look at her before everything went dark. Seriously. Could this day get any better?

It might just be worth it to find out.

* * *

**That's it! Revamped ending! Do those of you who have read this before approve? No? Maybe with further modifications? Please tell me!**

**This story continues on in Gray Possession, which also got revamped. I hope that everyone has enjoyed reading Black Garden as much as I did writing (and revamping) it.  
**

**I own nothing. *^.^***

**Happy Reading!**


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